Keeping Them Together
by DarkPuddlesofInk
Summary: Axel managed to save Roxas and Xion from disappearing thanks from help Riku and Namine but there is a price for cheating fate. Now the longer Roxas, Xion, and Sora are apart the weaker they all get. Not only is the trio forced to stay close to Sora, but they have to hide from the Organization as well. Did Axel truly save his friends or just delay the inevitable? Canon divergence AU
1. Prolouge

Twilight Town, a world perfectly balanced between the realm of Dark and the realm of Light. Not everyone from Twilight Town came from that world, Axel was one of them. He laid in bed, reminiscing the past. Somehow between the brilliant blue sky of Radiant Garden and the soft afternoon hue's of Twilight Town, he prefered the later. Maybe because he no longer considered Radiant Garden his home. Here he had freedom, here he had a new life, here he had something more important than anything else. Roxas.

He remembered the day he met the kid. Axel had left Radiant Garden and had been living in Twilight Town for sometime when he ran into the then young child in outskirts of town. A child with no memory of who he was or where he came from, the only thing he knew was his name. Axel cursed his heart and immediately took the child in, despite still being an older teen himself. At first Axel's goal was to take in the kid just long enough for someone to adopt the boy, but then Roxas became unexpectedly attached to him. Roxas would cling to Axel like a lifeline, for weeks the only thing he'd say was "Axess." Axel couldn't leave Roxas alone with any other adult without Roxas bursting into tears. He didn't want to admit it, but over time he became protective of the kid to the point where, against all reason, Axel became Roxas's legal guardian. Since then Axel worked hard to get a better life for himself and his new little brother.

Everything changed for the better the day he ran into Scrooge McDuck. The business typhoon was in Twilight Town testing out a new ice cream flavor that was a big hit back in Radiant Garden. Scrooge recognized Axel and invited him over for a free snack. Scrooge heard Axel's story, then he was introduced to Roxas. Scrooge was both so surprised and proud of Axel's action that he actually challenged him. The goal? A business that Scrooge would fund. And that's how Axel became the owner of a pizzeria. Everything had been nothing but uphill since then. His business had been booming, Roxas went from a small scared child to the sassy annoying teenager that Axel adored.

Or at least that is what would have happened, if this Twilight Town was real. So instead Axel laid in bed, grateful he had new life, even if was temporary. For once he had peace, for once he had freedom for once. Most importantly he had Roxas, they were safe, they were together. And very soon _she'd_ join them, and they'd all be together once again. He'd bring them back together, and he'd keep all three of them together.

* * *

A/N: Introducing the next story in my AU, if you haven't read "Bringing them Back" go check it out or any of my other stories. Don't worry the chapters will be longer than this. As always, comment, fav, review, whatever floats your boat.

~Ink


	2. Time to STRUGGLE!

Axel laid in bed, it was still a bit early in the morning. Most of the town was still asleep but not Axel. Today was the day shit would hit the fan, the annual Struggle would begin in a few hours. And he had a lot of work to do.

First step, make breakfast for Roxas and his friends. Usually it'd just be him and Roxas but it became a tradition to invite the other kids over for a hearty breakfast before the big event. Pancakes, waffles, some omelets, bacon. Coffee for himself and Pence, tea for Olette, and OJ for Hayner and Roxas. It may seem like a big breakfast, but for four teenagers, Axel figured it was about right. It also helped that the kid's parents would drop off supplies the day before. It wasn't long before he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It wasn't long before Roxas peeked his head from around the corner.

"Is that breakfast?"

"Yep. your friends should get here soon, why don't you get dressed so you can help me set up the table."

Roxas nodded and ran back upstairs, Axel couldn't help but to smile at kid. 'He certainly has come a long

way, at least he's not a zombie anymore. Oh well, they can't stay little forever.' Axel sighed a bit before getting back to cooking. Roxas appeared again not too long afterwards and before he knew it there four kiddos chowing down. Hayner and Roxas chatted about their upcoming fight, Axel enjoyed a nice conversation with Olette when he noticed Pence was unusually quiet.

"Yo Pence, is something wrong? You barely touched your food."

At the sound of his voice the other kids quieted down and stared at Pence. Indeed the boy's plate was still mostly untouched, something rare and worrying coming from Pence.

Pence frowned at he stared intensely at a piece of paper in his hands. "Something's not right."

Olette scooted closer to him, "What's not right?"

Pence passed her the paper, "The Struggle bracket, normally Roxas or Hayner start off by facing off against Rai but this time..." Axel peered over Olette's shoulder. Even Hayner and Roxas huddled over them. Pence continued "...This time he's facing off someone name X?"

"WHAT?! Lemme see that!" Hayner grabbed the from Olette, much to her protest. And scanned it faster than anyone thought was possible. His face pale a bit, he could feel his lips dry up. "I'm facing off against Fuu?" His prompted a soft gasp from the rest of the group, especially from Roxas.

"But _I _always fight Fuu! Who am I fighting?" Roxas all but whined.

Pence didn't even hesitate to answer, "Seifer is starting off by Setzer in the first honorary round so he automatically passes to the next round. Then it's Rai vs the mysterious X, Hayner vs Fuu, and Roxas vs Vivi."

The small was silent for a moment before Roxas just spoke up again. "Well that's just stupid."

Axel laughed it off. "Whatever the case you kids finish up eating. Think off this little shake up as a way to test yourselves. Now eat, I have to open up the restaurant soon. And hey, why we're here, why don't you kids stop by after the tournament. I'll add a little something extra for the winner."

Roxas and Hayner grinned at each other then at the redhead, "You're on."

There was a warm feeling in Axel's chest began to grow, something about these kids just made him feel like himself. There was just one thing missing, or better yet, there was someone missing. Whether or not anyone realized there was an extra space on the table for one more person. He could feel the corners of his lips twitch downwards. 'No, she'll be here soon. Just gotta wait a little longer, you already have Roxas, she'll be here. And then we'll be together,' He watched fondly as the kids interacted before cleaning up and getting ready to go. Roxas waved at him with a smile, 'Whatever time they give us here, I'll make sure we make the most of it.'

* * *

The restaurant that day was at it's peak. It was the day of the annual Struggle tournament, one of the busiest day's of the year for Axel. Even though his restaurant wasn't near the Sandlot, he could still see the crowd of people making their way towards the festivities. Not the mention the occasional cheerful roar of the crowd that marked the start or end of a match. Occasionally he'd send an employee to check in on the matches. Hayner and Roxas have won their first matches against Fuu and Vivi, "X" won their fight against Rai as well. He could feel the pride growing within him.

He kept eyeing the clock, as per Struggle tradition, the stores along the Market Commons would close just before the semi-finally. With any luck he'd close up shop just before the final round. This year, Twilight Town would have the biggest Struggle match its had in years he was sure of it. There was another round of faint cheering, minutes later one of his delivery guys burst into the restaurant. The poor kid was red and out of breath, but his face was pure joy.

"Boss! You won't believe it!"

Axel feigned ignorance, "Won't believe what, come on spill it."

The kid grinned even wider, "The newcomer! They were amazing! I never seen someone move so fast, they did these backflips and cartwheels! Seifer couldn't even land a single hit! You should have seen it boss. And the whole time they were in the air they didn't drop a single ball. And then Seifer actually admitted he lost! He shook their hand! No threats or nothing!"

"An honest defeat, something rare from our self-proclaimed sheriff. Get the rest of workers, we're closing up shop a bit earlier than usual. Something tell me we're not going to want to miss the upcoming matches."

The kid nodded eagerly, "You got it boss. HEY GUYS!"

Axel laughed as his employees scrambled to close the store. By the time they closed the shop and made their way to the Sandlot, the second match of the second round was had just ended. It was Roxas vs Hayner, Hayner was already making his way towards them as Roxas was being interviewd by the annoiuncer. He huffed but took his loss in good spirit, he instead focus on the next match. The match for the third place winner, Seifer vs Hayner. It gave Roxas a chance to meet up with the group.

"Axel you made it"

"And miss my little brother get his butt kicked, wouldn't miss it for the world."

Roxas frowned a bit, "Well that't not very encouraging."

Axel reached over and ruffled his hair, "You know I'm just messing with you. So it's you and the newcomer in the final round, you neverous?"

Roxas nodded slightly, "A little bit, I saw part of their fight with Seifer. They were _fast, _Axel. I could hardly keep up with them! But there was something else."

"Hmm?"

"It's weird, watching them, it was almost like I knew them from somewhere. Weird huh, they felt so familiar. And that's saying something, considering they somehow kept their hood up the whole time!"

Axel chuckled, "You mean you don't even know what they look like, yet?"

Roxas huffed a bit, "Oh what, and you do?"

Axel placed his finger over his lips, "Mayyybbbe." Roxas gasped and was about to relatilate when Hayner poked his head into the conversation.

"Hey Roxas, your match is about to start up. The announcer needs you in the arena."

Roxas nodded and blew a raspberry at Axel as he left.

Hayner leaned towards Axel, "So wait you actually know the guy Roxas is fighting against?"

"I know the girl, yeah."

Hayner's face scrunched up in confusion, "Girl?"

Axel smiled, "Yeah her name is..."

* * *

The point of Struggle is simple, you win by earning more points than your opponent. Each person is given a velcro vest and helmet which contain 50 balls per person. The goal of the sport is to either collect all 100 balls or to have the most amount of balls before time runs out. You do this by hitting your opponent with soft bats especially designed for Struggle. There are usually three types of players. The offense type, those like Hayner, Roxas and Seifer, who prefer to use their strength. The defensive type, like Fuu, Rai and Vivi. And last but not least, the evasive type, who were a balance of the tow previous players. Their speed and agility made them hard to hit, but it also made them hard hitters.

Just like Roxas's opponent, which frustrated him to no end. He's swing his bat and they'd be only a few inches out of reach. He'd swing again and suddenly they were behind him. Roxas could feel the impact on his back, he was losing point fast. At this rate he'd too many points to be able to make for it with whatever little time was left.

'Damn it, come on it's not over yet, I still have a chance.' Roxas blocked a frontal attack and the opportunity to counterattack, gaining some extra points on the process. He had his chance, he raised his bat and swung it hard against their side. Knocking more ball off the process. They gasp as the bat struck them, something about their voice.

Roxas hesitated, and that was all it took. They gripped their bat harder and landed a triple combo hit. One on the left side, another on the right and the final over the head that caused him to nearly fall out of the arena.

'Crap, if I don't finish them now. Comeo one Roxas, three, two, one, GO!' Roxas dodge rolled into several pf the balls that have fallen off him, regaining some points he lost. He crouched in front of them, launching his bat at their chest as he jumped up. The other person was pushed back...

... just hard enough for their hood to fall back with them.

Black hair peaked from under the hood.

Roxas frozen as their face was revealed. No, not they but her, her face.

_Xion's face_

Time stopped for Roxas. 'That's right... Xion. She's back.. We did it, Axel we did it.'

He was so focused in his thoughts, he forgot until about the Struggle until Xion giggled at him and smacked the side of his helmet causing him to fall to the ground.

There was a loud crowd roared a powerful cheer. The match was over but all he could focus on was the person in front of him with her hand extended out towards him. Their cheers slowed until the world around him came to a stop. Time itself paused for them.

"Roxas! I'm so sorry, you were suppose to block I didn't mean to hit you so hard! Here," she said.

He reached out to her as she helped him up. It was her, Xion. "Xion," he said breathlessly, "you're here, you're actually back. How?"

She grinned at him but before she could respond he felt a hand on his shoulder. Xion smiled even wider. "Axel!"

Axel waved at her, "Yo, glad to see you finally met Roxas. Roxas this is Xion, Xion this is my kid brother Roxas. I'm sure you two have met before." He winked at her, she giggled and winked back. Once again Roxas felt out of the loop. "Come on Roxas, don't be shy."

Roxas just stuttered, he was so confused. "A-Axel? What's going on?"

Axel mused and looked around him, the townsfolk were suspended in animation. "Maybe now's not the best to talk, too many people you know. Not sure how much longer Namine can keep them like this."

"Na..mine?" Another familiar thing that was just out Roxas's grasp.

Xion perked up, "She is helping us, I knew it!" She was smiling, nothing like the sad smile Roxas had last seen on her that fateful day at the Clock Tower.

"Yep, now why don't we let this seen play out. Xion, you know where to find me." With that Axel disappeared back into the crowd. The people slowly came back to live, they cheered for Xion, the new Struggle champion. Roxas's friends ran up to them with a swarm of questions. Xion was quickly introduced to the group. They even took a picture of all five of them with her trophy. It was a grand time for the two young nobodies. But eventually the festivities winded down, Xion and Roxas made their way to place very familiar to them.

"The clock tower," he mumbled out.

Xion pointed at the top, "Axel's already waiting for us, you ready."

Roxas stared at her, he still couldn't believe it. She was back and this time he wouldn't let her go. He let her lead them to where his "brother" was waiting for them. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he had a strange feeling that everything would be alright. Especially now that the three of them finally found each other.

* * *

**_RESTORATION: 85% COMPLETE..._**

Riku watched over the multiple pods in the room. There was no sign of the Organization yet, he suspected once Sora woke up that would change. DiZ hasn't shown up either, which was a huge relief. He seemed very annoyed that Riku "Altered" the data to include Axel and Xion, but to everyone's surprise Sora's memories were actually being restored at a much faster rate than expected. So DiZ let it slide.

There was another presence behind him. He felt at ease, if she was here then something good must have happened.

Namine walked up to him and stood at his side for a moment before speaking up. "They finally found each other."

Riku smiled a bit, "Is that so, that was faster than expected. Although that would explain why Sora looks so happy." They turned to the sleeping boy in the pod. He looked so peaceful, there was a small smile decorating his face. "How much time do they have?"

"At least two or three days, it won't be long before they awaken."

Riku nodded, "Then let's give them the best two days of their lives."

Namine pouted in confusion, "How so?"

Riku felt like being rebellious, DiZ wouldn't be happy about this but screw him. After Sora awakened, Riku wasn't planning on sticking around. Not to mention how horribly the man treated Namine, Riku wasn't letting her stay behind either. "How about, we give them a beach?"

* * *

A/N: I re-wrote this chapter like 3 times. It was grueling but plot is plot. Anyways I'm so glad you guys are excited for this story. Especially considering how short the first chapter was. Stay tuned for more, feel free to leave a comment. Any feedback is always appreciated.

~Ink


	3. Lazy Afternoon

Three figures sat on top of the Clock Tower, each with a pretty blue ice cream in their hand. They all ate in silence, for the first time in forever, they finally had a moment of peace. A moment to relax and simply enjoy each others company, something they haven't been able to do in what seemed like a long time. The warm afternoon wind surrounded them in a gentle embrace. It may not have been the real Clock Tower, but they didn't care. To them, this was the moment they have been waiting for.

Axel looked over to his left to where Roxas and Xion where happily eating their ice cream. This time around, they didn't just come from a mission. They didn't have to RTC or report back to Saix and Xemnas. They were free from the Organization who only wanted to use his kids fro their own purposes. He subconsciously gripped his ice cream harder, to think he almost lost both of them. Roxas and Xion were smiling as Xion showed off her Struggle trophy. For a moment, the image of Roxas being captured by Riku flashed in his mind, then he could see Xion's limp body being taken away by Xemnas. Yet here they were, two happy kids without a care in the world. There was a strange feeling in his throat, almost like a choking sensation.

'These kids are making me soft.' he thought to himself as he took another bite of his ice cream.

"Axel?" He turned his attention to the two kids staring at him.

"Hmm?"

Xion looked down at her ice cream then back at him, "I just wanted to say thank you, you didn't have to do all this." She gestured to the whole town.

He could feel his cheeks burn up, "Don't thank me, thank Roxas, he's the one who got his butt kicked by Riku for trying to go after you."

Roxas frowned, "Did not, I was the one who was winning but then he just _had_ to use the power of darkness. That's basically cheating."

Xion giggled much to the blond's dismay. "See Xion, Roxas and I, we're a mess without you." He pointed out.

Roxas grumbled to himself, something about Axel teasing him too much before he spoke up again, "So Xion, do you have a place to stay? Axel and I live in this apartment near the Sandlot and the Commons, you should join us."

Xion stared at him for a moment, the smile on her face scared both Roxas and Axel. "Actually, Riku and Namine already gave me a place to live while we're here," She stood up and extended her hand to them, "how about you two sleep over at my place instead?"

Roxas turned to Axel, the elder just shrugged. How bad can it be?"

* * *

"YOU LIVE IN THE MANSION?!" Roxas shouted as the trio stood in front of the large metal gate.

Xion laughed as Axel just let out a whistle. "Nice, do you really live here all by yourself?"

She nodded, "It was a bit scary at first, but then Namine left me a note explaining everything. So I usually spent my time fixing the mansion time for you two."

Roxas's mouth was still wide open in shock, when he remembered something, "Wait does this mean you're the 'ghost' who lives in the mansion?"

"Huh? I mean, I usually stayed out of sight. But I would try to fix up the garden so I wouldn't be surprised if someone say me." She said.

Axel burst out laugh, "Oh man Xion, that was you? Pence was about ready to make you Twilight Town's 8th wonder! Not to mention you scared the crap out of Roxas."

"Hey!"

Xion smiled at the boy's banter. "So why don't we go inside."

Once inside the difference from the real mansion was obvious, this mansion looked way more livable than the one in the real Twilight Town.

Axel was impressed, "I gotta say Xion, I don't think I've ever seen this place so nice."

Roxas walked behind them. There was a cloud of doubt that hung over his head. He wanted to be excited, he wanted to be happy. But he was scared. Deep inside him he knew they were all still Nobodies, they still lacked hearts. So was everything from before just fabricated? Could feelings be digitally created? Not to mention that they were basically inside a computer. Sure, they were okay now? But what would happen once they all woke up. He was so tired of having to fight every waking moment just for his right to even exist. In a twisted way, he almost wanted to stay here. Xion was here, Axel was here, Sora and the Organization weren't here. What will happen to them out there? Even if they managed to steer clear of Sora, the Organization would hunt them down. Axel was probably now considered the biggest traitor of them all, and of Xemnas discovered Xion. He knew they wouldn't stop until they found her. As for himself, they'd force him back and make him collect hearts until he collapsed or was replaced.

"-xas"

How long before they were all eventually torn apart again?

"Roxas?"

He saw her die, he was who killed Xion. How could she just accept him back so quickly?

"Roxas!" He snapped out of his thoughts, to see Axel and Xion looking at him with worry. Xion grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Are you okay, you look a bit pale."

He stared at her face. Did her eyes always have a violet tint to them? Did she always have that look of worry to them? He didn't look away from her when he spoke up, "Hey Axel?"

"Hmm?

"What now? We found each but what do we do now?"

Axel thought for a moment, "Hmm well, I'm guess we enjoy whatever time we have left here. This town may not be real, but the memories we choose to make here are. I can't tell you what's going to happen to us once we enter the real world again, but as long as we stick together it won't be so bad. Got it memorized?"

They might not have been real brothers, but Axel always knew what to say to make him feel better.

Xion clearly agreed with the redhead, "We let them separate us once, because of that we all lost each other. We won't make the same mistake twice, right Axel?"

Roxas smiled a bit and Axel did the awkwardest thing he would he think of. He wrapped one arm around Xion and the other around Roxas and just pulled them both into a hug. Before the he knew it the two kids became to cry while hugging him back. He somehow managed to get all into the master bedroom where they talked about everything they wanted to in the fake town before awakening in the real world. They spent most of the afternoon just talking, reconnecting before their eyes began to flutter. And slowly, one by one they all fell asleep.

* * *

Axel woke up in an unfamiliar bed, unable to move. He looked to his left and saw an absolute mess of black hair. Xion was clinging to his side. His tried to adjust himself and almost smacked Roxas in the face. The blond was snoring softly on his right side. Axel was trapped between two sleeping children, they reminded him of helpless puppies. As adorable as they looked, Axel's arms were starting to feel numb, it was a wonder that he actually managed to sleep at all. He spent over ten minutes slowly shifting out of bed in order not to wake up the young Nobodies.

He looked at them for a moment, committing the scene to memory before heading out to making something to eat for the three of them. As he made his way to the kitchen, which took him forever to find. But he wasn't alone, someone else already beat him to there.

"You know, you could just knock." He pointed out

Riku just waved him off, "Relax, I'm not actually here. This is just a hologram made of data so I can talk to you."

"Hmm, well then go ahead."

"Sora will awaken in two days until then Namine and I decided to leave you all with a some gift."

"Oh?"

* * *

Xion felt someone shake her awake. She didn't want to open her eyes, but whoever was shaking her clearly had other plans. She groaned in annoyance as she finally woke up. Her eyes took a moment to take in the scene. Axel had left the bedside to rip open the curtains, a small scream followed but not by her.

"AGGHH! Axel!" Roxas shot up from his side of the bed.

But Axel didn't care, Axel continued to smile with the biggest grin anyone has ever seen. "Axel?"

Axel looked at both at them and took a deep breath, "Hurry up and get ready. Today is going to be a big day, we have places to be."

Xion couldn't think of anything that warranted Axel to act so.. weird. She waited for Roxas to speak but the blond boy was still to groggy to register what Axel was doing. She frowned, she really didn't to be the one to ask but it seemed she had no choice. "Axel? Where exactly are we going?"

Somehow his smile got even bigger. "We're going to... THE BEACH!

"WHAT?!"

* * *

A/N: Two days before Sora wakes up and KH2 begins. Also while there will be very clear ships, (Rokushi and Sokai) they won't be the main focus. That being said, I love Roxas but I feel like I'm two sentences away from giving him a panic attack. Thank you for all the favs and follows, it means a ton. Feel free to leave reviews and suggestions in the comments. Also Llama, Keeper thank for sticking around for the story


	4. RE:Twilight Town

**_Restoration: 95% COMPLETE_**

A mysterious train pulled into the Station at Twilight Town. It's only passenger exited the train, still equally as mysterious as the train itself. A short figure in a custom black coat made its way to the Station Plaza and into the Underground Trams where it met another similar figure.

"Your majesty,"

The shorter figure let out a small laugh, "Riku, how many times do I have to ask you, just call me Mickey. We're friends after all."

Riku chuckle a bit, "Of course, Mickey. It must have slipped my mind."

That's when the King's face went serious, "So it's almost time huh."

The two began their walk through the sleepy town. Both safely hidden by the shadows cast by the ever-present sun. It was peaceful aside from the occasional heartless here and there, but nothing they couldn't handle.

Mickey looked around Twilight Town. "Is Sora-?"

"Sora will wake soon, but so will his Nobody and Replica."

Mickey frowned, "And they're both keyblade wielders, right? So that means the Organization will be hunting them down."

Riku shook his head, "So far they haven't noticed Xion's return, if they had there would be Nobodies all over the town. So long as those stay out of the Organization's sight, they'll be fine."

"And Axel? Do you think we can trust him? He wasn't exactly friendly back at Castle Oblivion."

Riku remembered Axel very well. Two of the Organization's own found their end at Axel's hand. Had he not seen the man in Castle Oblivion, he would have never believe he was a ruthless killer. "Axel betrayed the Organization when he left with Roxas, Xemnas won't forget that level of treason."

Mickey could feel himself relax, "They'll wake up before Sora, right?"

"Yes, but Sora can't find out about them. I'm afraid of what he'll do if he founds out he has a Nobody. Sora has a stupid history of self-sacrificing himself for the sake of others. Not to mention he's horrible at keeping secrets," There was a sense of fondness in his voice, "If the Organization sees Sora, they'll believe Roxas has returned to him. That should be enough to keep the Organization off their backs for now."

Mickey didn't want to admit it, but Riku had a point. Sora will most likely seek out Riku after his awakening, there's a good chance the Organization will go after Sora. If someone like Roxas was to be thrown in the equation, or worse Xion, the girl with Kairi's face. Sora wouldn't hesitate to give up his existence for theirs. The less he knew the better. This could work, this could actually work. All he had to was find the trio after they wake up and led them to Yen Sid's Tower. Then he'd have to return just in time for Sora's awakening and guide him to Yen Sid's as well. Hopefully his master could find a way to keep the two groups apart.

He took a deep breathe, yeah, he could do this, right?

* * *

_**Restoration: COMPLETE**_

Roxas opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by the pure white light. He groaned, he wanted to sleep a bit longer. There were voices on the distance than only got closer and closer. He tried to open his eyes again. There were two very distinct figures, or rather two distinct colors.

Red and black.

Axel

Xion.

Roxas snapped his eyes open only to fall into the red-head's arms as he fell from his pod.

"Woah, easy there bud. Though I have to admit, I've never seen you this energetic right after waking up."

It was them, they did it. "Axel, Xion-" The raven haired girl smiled and waved at him, "-are we?"

Axel laughed, "In the real world? Yep?"

Roxas looked down at his hands. He was still in his casual clothing, just as he was before he went to sleep. But something was different, he no longer felt tired or worn down. He looked up to see his friends smiling at him. They were _free_. No longer would they be forced to fight to each other, instead they'd fight for each other. Now Roxas had a purpose, one that was is own and not one that was forced on to him. He flexed his hand out. He was _free. _And even he wasn't immune to the feeling of pure happiness.

Xion, however, couldn't believe she was still alive. The only two people that mattered to her were right there with her. Part of her was conflicted, especially with Roxas and Sora in the same room as her. But there Roxas was, with a smile that could outshine the sun. He didn't look week or pale as he did the weeks before her eventual demise. Now he looked healthy. And Axel, he looked younger almost. She knew he was faced between two tough choices, her or Roxas. So she didn't let him pick. But now without all that pressure, he looked more like Axel and less like Xemnas's hound dog.

Then there was Sora. Without thinking her hands reach up to her own face. Who was she, was she still herself or...

"You're still you, Xion." She looked up at Roxas. His remark caught her off guard.

Axel nodded in agreement and reached over to mess with her hair, "Yeah, you still look like yourself Xion. Black cowlick and everything... Glad to have you back kid." These were the moments Xion missed. "Now come on, let's blow this place."

The two keyblade wielders grinned at him. With that they gave one final look at Sora, before leaving the mansion.

* * *

Roxas took a deep breath as they entered the forest. The real forest felt like so rejuvenating, the air was fresher here compared to the virtual Twilight Town. He looked back at Axel and Xion who were walking behind him, if it weren't for their coats, he would have thought they were just regular civilians. Speaking of which, if he focused enough he could faintly hear the shimming of the clock tower. A new hour has began. It seemed he wasn't the only that noticed, Axel and Xion also stopped a moment to hear the Clock Tower. The raven haired girl smiled and began to walk ahead of the other two.

"Hey Axel? Roxas?"

She blew them a raspberry and took off running. "Last one to the Tower buys ice cream!"

The two guys stood there for a moment as she ran out of sight. Then the looked at each other in shock before sprinting after the youngest Nobody.

"Xion! Wait that's cheating!"/"Get back here you brat! If anyone is paying its Roxas!"

For a moment Roxas was reminded of the dreams he'd have of Sora's memories. Where Sora, Riku and Kairi would run on the beach just having fun and being kids. Or when he's see the Hayne, Pence and Olette do the same here. But this time out shun them all, because this time they were his memories. As they all ran from the mansion to the tower, they failed to notice a tall figure watching them from one of the windows of the mansion.

"Those delusional Nobodies, do they really think they can escape their fate?" He narrowed his eyes at them, a look of disgust covered his face. "No matter, the Organization will take care of them. Now about that witch..."

* * *

From the top of the Clock Tower sat three figures. Each of them held a distinctive blue ice cream in their hands. They laughed and made jokes. They sat and basked in the sunset. Sure they've seen plenty of sunsets before, but this one was special. Because that sunset was the first sunset in their new lives.

Unbeknown to them small figure was hidden within the safety of the shadows, watching them.

Mickey knew he was short on time, but he also knew moments like these were rare. Especially for keyblade wielders. He didn't know what the future had in store for them, but if anything he wanted to give them one more good moment. From around the corner he could hear them laugh. It confused him, he thought Nobodies weren't capable of emotion? Yet they're laughter sounded too genuine to be faked. Maybe it's because two of them had such deep ties to Sora?

There was a faint memory of another group of keyblade wielders, and instantly his heart began to hurt. He was too weak to protect them, then pain of knowing he was the only one to survive the events of that fateful was too much. He began to repress that memory just to make the pain again bearable before taking a deep breath.

'Nobodies or not, I will not fail them, not again.' he thought to himself.

Mickey turned the corner making his presence known and with that the sound of laughter died out. Immediately the small group reacted. The tall red-head stood in front with one back pushing the other two behind him and the other with a weapon in hand. The second figure, a blonde boy whose face looked so hauntingly familiar Mickey had his keyblade out as he keep the third figure well behind him. Clearly talking to the two younger Nobodies was out of the question, so he turned his attention to glaring red-head.

"Who are you. And why the hell are you wearing that coat!" The green eyed man growled.

Mickey pulled the hood away from his face. "Fellas, fellas. Relax, I'm Mickey, a friend of Riku and Sora's."

He heard the sound of the keyblade being dismissed. "Sora and Riku?" Muttered the blonde to himself. Mickey nodded and extended his hand toward them, "That's right, Riku sent me to come guide you to a place where'll you be safely hidden away from the Organization. Even if it is temporary, but we must hurry. Sora will awaken soon, it's best he doesn't into you just yet. So what do you say fellas, can you trust me?"

The older Nobody eyed him for a moment before dismissing his weapon. His face relaxed as he let of a sigh of relief. "So you're Riku's mystery friend. No offense, I kinda expected you to be taller." It was a good natured joke, although the two Nobodies didn't find it all that funny.

"Axel that was just bad."/"That was rude Axel."

Mickey laughed, "That's alright fellas, now let's go. We have a train to catch."

"A train?" It was the last and finally Nobody, or more technically, Sora's replica. They emerged from behind the blond boy, Mickey squinted a bit. Something was different about them, according to Riku this person was suppose to change their appearance depending who looked at them. But all Mickey saw was a hooded figure, nothing like Riku's replica back at Castle Oblivion. Mickey wondered what they actually looked like underneath their hood.

"Yep, my Master is a mage who lives in a tower hidden away from the rest of Twilight Town. However the only way to reach it by a magical train. So we must hurry to reach it before Sora awakens."

The two younger Nobodies perked up at the idea of a magically train ride. They both immediately turned to their guardian. The older man did his best not to look at them, but the kids just leaned in closer. He let out a sigh of defeat, "Fine, we can go on the magic train. Jeeze, you both don't have to gang up on me like that." He turned to Mickey, "Lead the way."

The trio were amazed to find out the "Magic Train" just so happened to be waiting for them at the Station, they barely had to travel to find it. They were even more blown away when the train pulled away from the station onto mysterious green tracks that weren't there prior. Axel calmly sat on the train's seat while the other two stared excitedly out the window. Mickey was relieved, they made it this far without any issues. He'd just drop them off outside the tower and go back for Sora. Simple.

Until he felt a tap on his shoulder, it was the hooded figure. They shifted nervously with their hands clasped together. "Mister Mickey, sir."

"Hm?"

"I just wanted to say thank you for helping us." They said.

Mickey blinked once, then twice. He rubbed his eyes just to make sure. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was comical. He began to laugh a bit. The third Nobody gave him a weird look. "Gawsh, when Riku told me you were Sora's replica, I didn't know what to expect. But now that I can actually see you.. well, you look just like a normal girl."

Her blue eyes opened wide in surprise. "You... you can see me?"

Mickey nodded, "Yep, you look kinda like Kairi but your hair is black instead of red."

She smiled at him, he could tell that just being able to see her true face meant a lot to her. The train whistle signaled the end of their journey. He waved the other two Nobodies over, "Come on fellas, I'll walk you all to the Tower." Xion happily followed behind the oversized mouse. He actually saw her. He barely knew her and yet he could see her face. Perhaps, maybe now she could be more than just a Replica.

Once outside the train she could be starry sky, much different from the sky back home- no, not home, back in the Castle that Never Was. The sky here was friendlier, brighter, and not to mention the amount of stars in the sky. She was so amazed by the sight that she failed to notice when she began to fall behind the rest of the group. The stars were beautiful, the way they swirled in the sky. Xion began to feel light headed. It wasn't the sky, it was her. Something was wrong with _her._ Xion began to panic, the world around just kept getting blurrier and blurrier. She wanted to call out for help but her body just kept shutting down until she fell to ground with a thud.

The boys turned around immediately at the sound of her body hitting the ground."Xion!" Roxas tried to reach her but his legs suddenly felt heavy. He watched as Mickey and Axel took off after her but for some reason he couldn't move. He felt just has he did when Xion drained him of his strength, weak and vulnerable. There was a strange ringing in his ear that just kept getting unbearably louder and louder. It felt like gravity just increased tenfold around him. He dragged his feet a couple steps towards Xion before he just collapsed.

The last thing he saw was Axel and Mickey huddled around Xion's unconscious body as the world around him went dark.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was way longer than I expected. Enough waiting, the real plot begins next chapter. That being said, I seem to have bitten off more than I can chew. I was so hyped up on KH3 that I completely forgot about KH2 transformations like those in The Pride Land and Atlantica. Now I have to figure out how our trio will look. But we'll get there when we get there. As always feel free to leave a comment. I love to read what you guys have to say. Until next time.


	5. Trapped Together

When they first got off that train and onto solid ground Axel began to think about the possibilities for the future. When he looked up to the tower he began to hope, and hope for a Nobody was a very dangerous thing. When he heard a soft "thump" behind him all that hope was slashed in half. There was a heavy sensation of dread on his chest as he saw Xion's limp body on the ground.

"Xion!" This wasn't supposed to happen, she was suppose to be fine now. He ran to her without a second thought. Within moments he was cradling her in his arms. She was pale, even more so than usual. "Xion, open your eyes Xion!" He shook her lightly, careful not to hurt her. Mickey looked at him with worry. And just when he thought things couldn't possibly get any worse he could hear Roxas groaning in pain. He looked up to see the blonde struggling to take steps forward, his blue eyes rolled upward... And he too collapsed.

"Roxas!"

* * *

Axel paced impatiently around the top of the tower. Both Roxas and Xion had wakened after receiving treatment from Mickey's master. The sage was a apparently a former keyblade master by the name of Yen Sid. However the two young keyblade wielders where still extremely weak. From what? He didn't know.

Yen Sid studied the two younger Nobodies with caution. He felt foolish, he had read the stars, he knew of their fate, yet he had hoped these two could defy that. For now, however, there is a solution. Even if it was temporary. Roxas and Xion sat down in front on his desk while Axel paced back and forth behind them. Both children were nervous, that much he could tell. Yet he couldn't figure out why. Aside from Xion, who due to her Replica nature was mostly likely capable of some level of emotion. Roxas and Axel were still at their core just Nobodies, they shouldn't have the ability to feel at all. And somehow he could sense light coming from Roxas and Xion, and somehow by default, Axel too. It was as if their light rubbed off on him. Perhaps it was their connection to Sora.

Speaking of Sora.. He turned his attention to Mickey, who had insisted in staying to see how Roxas and Xion were doing. "Mickey, you must go now to Twilight Town. It seems Sora is awakening as we speak."

"But Master Yen Sid-"

Yen Sid lifted his hand. "I can take care of these two here, it is Sora who will need of your assistance. Now go, I sense the Organization has already sent their lackeys to find Sora."

Mickey started to protest but the look on his master's face was enough to make him change his mind. He took one more look at the trio before running out the door.

Yen Sid waited for the train to signal it's departure before turning to Axel.

"Young man, your name is Axel, correct."

Axel stopped pacing and nodded, "Yeah but that's not important. Do you know what happened to them or not?" He gestured to the younger two Nobodies.

Yen Sid stroked his beard, "I have a theory, although I pray I am mistaken."

Xion tilted her head to the side a bit, "Mistaken? Why's that?" she asked.

Yen Sid sighed deeply, "My dear, look outside, do you see the stars? Each star represents something, either it be a world or the people who reside in it. After the heartless began to invade the world, stars have begun to out. This is how I know a world has fallen into darkness." All eyes were on Yen Sid now, each Nobody listened in very carefully. "Not to long ago, I saw the stars and I saw the fate of one of the stars. She was to go dark and be forgotten, forever. And she wasn't the only one. Another star's light was ready to be overtaken and put into the light of another, in order to restore was has been lost. And yet somehow thanks to another star, their flames was regintied. Something I have never seen before."

Roxas's eyes narrowed in, Yen Sid wasn't just talking about stars, he was talking about Xion. Yen Sid must have sensed his confusion. "Their fates were already set in stone, but due to one act of defiance, fate was altered." Yen Sid stared straight at Axel. "However there is a price for changing was is written, and I'm afraid one cannot change fate so easily."

Roxas frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yen Sid motioned his desk, and with the wave of his hand, a small figure appeared. It was Sora. "Now I assume you know how a Nobody is created, and yet the two of you are hardly normal Nobodies. When a person with a strong heart becomes a Heartless, their soul stays behind in the empty body, becoming a Nobody." Sora's imagine poofed into a small shadow before turning back to Sora. "This is how Roxas was born," Another figure appeared next to Sora, Roxas. "Now Sora, unlike all Nobodies was reformed back into himself due to the power of Light from Kairi. Because of this, not only did Roxas and Sora coexist, but Roxas was essentially an empty state. Without memories to rely on, he had to learn everything anew."

Sora's imagine swung his keyblade around, while Roxas's image was almost transparent. "Think of it this way, when Sora reformed he retrained all of his power. Roxas however only inherited his ability to use the keyblade, but still had no power of his own. Slowly however, he began to train within the Organization, thus creating his own power separate from Sora's. However, due to Organization's meddling Sora's power began to flow into Roxas." Sora's image flickered and began lose it's color as Roxas's became more defined.

"Soon Roxas housed all of Sora's power, in addition to his own." Everytime Sora flickered, a ball of light was sent to Roxas making him brighter and brighter. "But even then there was another who latched onto Roxas and began to steal Sora's power. Similar to Roxas, she had no power in the beginning, yet through her mere existence she became more powerful on her own and the memories she stole from Sora." Next to Roxas Xion appeared, and for everytime Roxas gained more power from Sora, Xion took a bit from Roxas. "In order to correct this, Xion sacrificed herself, effectively returning Sora's power to Roxas, now all that was left was for Roxas to return as well. The culmination of Sora's, Roxas's and Xion's power would have made Sora stronger than ever. But thanks to Namine, Sora's original power was returned to him."

Roxas watched with fascination as Sora's imagine glowed back to life, while his and Xion's barely flickered at all. It bothered him, how Sora's light out shun them. "But what does that have to do with Xion and I being weak now?"

"Essentially, without Sora's power, you and Xion were left with whatever power you two gained on your own while in the Organization. This power however, is still directly tied to Sora. If that connection is severed, I'm afraid you and Xion will fade out of existence and back to Sora."

The trio gasped, they weren't expecting this at all. Roxas began to huff in anger, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means Sora is the only thing keeping you and Xion alive. He is your lifeline until you two can regain your power on your own. The further you venture from Sora, the weaker you will both be. Wander far enough from him and both of you will cease to exist. If something happens to Sora, it will also affect you. I imagine, the reverse is true. That is price you must pay."

Axel and Xion paled. Xion's hand began to tremble, "This means, that we have to stay near Sora?" Yen Sid nodded as Xion fell back into her chair in despair.

Roxas had enough and stood up from his chair, "Why does everything have to be about Sora! I hate him, I hate him!" Xion reached over hand grabbed his hand while Axel placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "So what, we have to stick to being his shadows and make sure he doesn't kill himself like the idiot he is or else we'll die!?"

Yen Sid was surprised by Roxas's outburst. He could feel pure rage coming from him. Roxas maybe be Sora's Nobody, but they had two very clear personalities. "I am afraid there is nothing I can do."

Axel thought for a moment, "Say we follow Sora around, eventually with time they'll be strong enough to leave his side, right?" Yen Sid nodded, "And how are we suppose to follow him exactly."

Yen Sid nodded, he waved his hand again over the table. On it three pins appeared, each in the shape of an ice cream bar and a small device. "I had anticipated this so I had three good friends of mine make these. They work similar to Donald's magic, it should help you blend in whatever world Sora is in. This device will allow you see Sora's location at all times." On his left another door appeared on the wall. "Sora will be arriving shortly. I will delay Sora just long enough for you to hide. Outside is the gummyship which Sora will use to travel, there is a hidden compartment you could use in addition to the corridors of darkness. But afterwards you are to follow in the shadows, away from the eyes of Sora and the Organization."

Xion thought it over, it wasn't fair. But other choice did they have? Xion stood up with conviction, "Yes sir."

Roxas gave her a strange look, "Xion, why?"

She turned to him, "Roxas, Sora is giving us another chance at life. We may be trapped beside him for now but it isn't permanent. If we don't go, we'll just be throwing away all the work we did to get here."

Axel chuckled, "She has a point, besides you won't be alone. Who said I had to be left out of everything? It'll be like an adventure."

Roxas looked at Axel then at Xion. He let out a sigh, "As long as we're together, we'll be alright, right?" They nodded at him. Roxas walked towards Yen Sid took the the pins and gps before giving them to Axel and Xion. Each of them put them on.

An adventure, just like the one's Sora's had, expect maybe ten times more dangerous. Axel reached over had messed with both kid's hairs. "Come one, let's see what you two remember about recon."

_New Mission: Follow Sora and don't get caught!_

* * *

Sora squinted as the Twilight sun got in his eyes. Ever since he awakened he found himself to be irritable. And those strange white creatures didn't make him feel any better. Yet seeing some of the local kids gave him an odd sense of longing. He looked at them once last time before he boarded the train. Suddenly as quickly as his bad mood came, it was gone. Instead it was somehow replaced relief.

There was a familiar wetness in his eyes. He touched his cheek to find a lone tear travelling down it. Was he crying? Sora looked back at the group of local kids who came to see him off. They smiled and waved him as he boarded the train to an unknown location. He had a feeling he hadn't seen the last of the world.

* * *

A/N: Sora will not be the main focus, for now. For now the SS trio will be the main focus but eventually their paths will have to cross. There's still some plot issues I have to work out. As always feel free to leave a comment/review. I'd love to know what you think.


	6. Hollow Bastion

If there one thing Roxas wished he remembered about Sora, it was how much of a terrible driver Sora was. When Yen Sid lead them to the gummiship, he was relieved to just be able to do nothing for a while. The secret compartment was rather small, especially for someone like Axel. oddly enough the compartment had a couple of handles on the walls Yen Sid said the could use for the journey. Roxas didn't quite now what the wizard had meant.

Until he heard Sora, Donald and Goofy aboard the ship. At first Axel suggest suggested he and Xion rest during the journey. So the two kids curled up and tried to go to sleep. It was a mistake.

They could here commotion coming from the cockpit before the ship began to jerk around and experience severe turbulence. Judging by the screaming duck upstairs, it didn't take long to figure out that Sora was the one driving. Instead of sleeping, Roxas and Xion spent the trip clinging onto Axel for dear life while Axel was forced to grip on to the handles.

'My somebody is gonna kill us, my somebody is an idiot and he's gonna kill us all.'

'So this is how I die... trapped in space with my two kids by my side... I wonder what Isa would think.'

'Did they just say meteor? Why would they even let him drive? I thought Donald and Goofy were suppose to be the responsible ones! Axel would never let us drive!'

The trio held onto each other for almost an hour before the felt the gummiship come to a screeching stop. Axel, Roxas and Xion were flung to the other side of the compartment.

"Gawrsh, did you hear something?"

"Yeah, the sound of Sora losing his driving privileges. I wouldn't be surprised if he broke part of the ship!"

"I got us here in one piece didn't I?" Sora's voice rang out. A couple of laughs followed, along with sound of a very grumpy duck. The laughter got fainter as the doors of the gummi ship opened and closed. The hidden Nobodies stayed in place until the sound of laughter completely faded away. Finally they all let out the breath they were holding the whole time.

One by one the trio shakely fell out of the gummi ship with the almost of grace of an intoxicated Dusk. There was a distinct green tint on their cheeks. Axel tumbled over to the nearest bush, painting it a colourful brown. Roxas threw himself onto a patch of grass, mumbling something about never wanting to fly again. Xion, she just leaned her body against the gummi ship for support. They took a moment to catch their breaths.

Radiant Garden, once the Capital of Light, was now a struggling world. No longer did it shine like it once did long ago. Smoke still lingered in the sky and there was a faint scene of darkness that tainted the air. Axel grimaced. Sure he had been here with Roxas not too long ago. But this wasn't the Radiant Garden he knew, no to him this was still Hollow Bastion.

"Xion look! Look how many flowers there are!" After regaining their balance he led her to a nearby flower patch while Axel messed around with the gps. The gps was simple enough. It had two modes, an in world mode and a outer world mode. There was a blinking crown symbol near the Marketplace. Which meant Sora was already a few block away from the ship. He turned his gaze to the two kids picking flowers when he spotted a flash of white in the distance. A couple of Dusks moved in the distance before turning the corner, and out of sight. Axel frowned, 'what were the Dusk doing here?' He looked back at Roxas and Xion who didn't seem to notice the Dusks. He looked down at the gps and back to where he last saw the Dusks.

'They're going after Sora.' If he remembered correctly, the house Merlin lent him was on the opposite side of where the Dusks were heading. "Roxas, Xion, come on. We'll rest at an old hideout."

The kids just looked at him in confusion. "Hideout?"/ "What about following Sora?"

Axel shrugged, "Sora will be fine, he has plenty of friends here to help him out. But we stick out like a sore thumb. Xion you're good at tech stuff, help me figure out this gps thingy."

* * *

Sora wiped off the sweat that began to accumulate on his forehead. They just barely made it into town when they ran into Donald's uncle, Scrooge. There was hardly any time to chit chat when a flurry of Nobodies and Heartless appeared. Taking down the heartless seemed more difficult than it usually did. Yen Sid did say he would be weaker than he was due to his long sleep. But Sora didn't expect to feel this weak. It worried him, he don't want Donald and Goofy to do all the heavy lifting for him. Not to mention how much harder it be to find Riku and the King. Still something wasn't right. His power felt scattered.

"SORA!"

Sora ducked just in time as a giant shuriken passed over head. There sound a heartless being destroyed rang in his ears. He looked up to see who just saved his back. "Yuffie!"

The black haired ninja smiled and waved him over. "Sora! Donald Goofy! You're back!"

"And just in time." A new voice added.

Sora looked up to the sound of a gunshot. "Leon!" The older man acknowledged him, there was a slight smile on his face before he went back to fighting the hoard of both Heartless and Nobodies. Sora grinned. Even he was weaker than before, he still had his friends by his side. They were his strength, and now he was stronger than before.

The last of the Heartless disappeared in plume of black smoke. Sora finally dismissed his keyblade.

"Hey you guys!," Yuffie called out as she approached them, "I see your still in top shape."

Sora chuckled, "OF course what did you expect." Though his voice shooka bit. He was not anywhere near top shape, but they didn't need to know that. He didn't want to worry them. "Hey, where'd Leon go?"

Goofy and Donald walked up behind him. Goofy looked around, "He was just here earlier."

Yuffie smiled at them, "He probably went to Merlin's house to talk to Cid about the town's defence system."

Donald crosses his arms in confusion, "Defense System?"

She nodded eagerly at them, "Yeah come on! I'm sure Cid would love to tell you aalll about it."

* * *

Xion looked around the small house in wonder. It was small, but cozy. Just as Axel had hoped, the house was still empty when they arrived. However there was a distinct lack of dust that did not go unnoticed. Roxas had grabbed Xion to show her around of the house as he explained to her the events that happened in her absence,

"-And then Merlin offered to teach me magic because he thought I didn't have a weapon. It was horrible, but now I don't completely suck." he explained.

Xion giggled, "You were always better with your keyblade than your magic. But why didn't you just use the keyblade?"

Roxas stopped to think, "Hmm a lot of people here know about the keyblade, Axel thought it'd be suspicious if people saw me with one." When he and Axel first arrived at Hollow Bastion. He didn't mind going without the keyblade. He may have been subpar at magic, but it was better that wielding the weapon that nearly cost him everything. There was a strange pulling sensation in his hands. It was almost as if he was summoning he keyblade, or if someone else was summoning it for him. He turned to Xion, only to find her looking at her hands as well.

"Roxas? Do you feel that?"

Roxas reached out his hands and tried to summon his keyblade. Instead of feeling power surge through him, he felt af it was draining him.

"Roxas! What are you doing?! Stop it!" Xion cried out. She could feel the pull of power from Sora to Roxas. It didn't hurt her, but she could still feel the effect it had on Roxas.

He could feel his power stopping just short of summoning the keyblade. He tried harder, but he could feel getting weaker and weaker. "Come on. Why can't I- ARRGHH!" There was a quick flash of light as he collapsed on his knees panting. In his hands Oblivion and Oathkeeper. He looked at them with tired smile. There were few things that separated him from Sora, and these were it.

Xion was shocked. She couldn't believe her eyes "Two?" In each of Roxas's hands was a keyblade. Not even Sora was capable of wielding two keyblades at a time. She took a glance down at her own hand. She could still feel power there, but when she bought it forth she was bombarded by memories. Memories of her attacking Roxas and Axel, of when Xemnas forced her to transform into Sora. she panicked and the power in her hand cut off. It was probably for the best. "So instead she turned her attention to Roxas and his new keyblades. "Roxas? How do you have two keyblades?"

Roxas was smiled at her, "I got them when I tried to get you back the first time. They just appeared on my way back to defeat Xemnas in order to get you back. Nothing else mattered, even though I couldn't remember you, I knew I just had to get you back." They took a moment to enjoy each other's company, "Of course Riku had to show up and fucked it all up."

"Roxas!"

He could help but to laugh at Xion scolding him. "Sorry, I guess I've been spending too much time with Axel."

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing." The two looked up to Axel outside the room. "If I had a heart, I'd say you two would have given me a heart attack. Heard a thump, mind filling me in?"

Roxas and Xion looked at each other hestinantly. Roxas showed Axel his keyblades before he dismissed them, "We felt weird, like someone was using our power. So I tried to summon my keyblade, these showed up instead."

"Just summoning the keyblade almost wiped him out, I don't I could summon mine if I tired." She admitted.

Axel opened his mouth to speak but the sound of explosions coming from outside cut him off. The trio looked at each and nodded. The trio creeped towards the window. There was a battle happening below. A heartless was flung upwards near the window and destroyed by a thunder spell. From below they could clearly see Sora and his friends battling with the heartless and nobodies.

For the first time ever, Roxas and Xion got to see Sora in action. The brown haired boy was a bit clumsy in his fighting style and his stance left much to be desired. Still this was the boy whose their very lives depended on. For a second Roxas felt respect towards the boy.

Until a Dusk smacked Sora so hard the boy when flying back into Goofy and Donald. 'This is suppose to the Keyblade Hero? What a joke.'

Xion, however had other thoughts. Seeing Sora was surreal especially after seeing and living through his memories. She took a moment to study his eyes, so full of emotion. A never ending blue sky, just like Roxas's. That's when they made eye contact. Xion yelped as she grabbed Axel and Roxas, pulling them away from the window.

"Xion?"

"Sorry Axel, but he almost saw us."

Axel looked past the curtains towards where Sora and another man where heading. The Bailey. The perfect place for an ambush. He glanced at the two kids by his side. "So what's the plan?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, "That idiot is gonna get himself killed if he keeps rushing in like that."

Axel let out a chuckle and nudged Roxas, "Sounds like someone we know, right Xion? What do you think we should do?

Xion pretended to think before grinning, "Let's go protect Sora."

* * *

And protect Sora they did. The trio followed behind Sora as his group in the shadows, occasionally sending off a magic spell when the trinity trio had their backs turned. They would hide in the shadows or dive into the abandoned houses in the borough. As per usual, Xion and Roxas were forbidden from using their keyblades until they recovered a bit more. Unless it was an absolute emergency, they relied on their magic. Although they didn't need it much. Any heartless or nobodies they encountered were left over from Sora. Mostly just Shadow and Dusks. However, there wasn't that many places to hide, this was made extremely clear when Sora entered the bailey

Roxas let out a frustrated sigh, "What now? He'll see us if we enter the bailey."

For now the trio was hidden behind the stone steps leading up to the bailey. However, according to the gps after the baile they would soon begin to run out of places to hide in. A major setback if Sora decided to push forward. Axel compared the map in the small device with his own memory of his former home, but Radiant Garden has simply changed too drastically in the decade he gone for his memory to be of any use. The world was simply too different. "Well there is a second set of stairs that lead to the bailey, it's blocked by a gate if I remember correctly. But Sora moves around too much, so it's a risky move." He offered lamely.

The trio stopped to think for a minute but they had no choice. This was a stealth mission after all. Begrudgingly they pulled up their hoods and quickly followed behind Sora into the bailey. Just as Axel said there was a small set of stairs that led to where Sora was. Luckily it was a small space that was separated by a wall which kept them out of view as they followed the sound of conversation.

"So Sora, do you know what's going on, then?"

The sound of Sora talking became clear, "There's this guy, Pete, who's been plotting with the Heartless. But he's not smart enough to tie his own shoes. The ones we need to worry about are the Nobodies"

Axel and Roxas turned to each other. "Did he say Pete?" Roxas whispered.

Axel gave a quick nod, "The guy we tracked down in Agrabah? Yeah that weirdo."

Even Xion joined in, "The one looking for the lamp? What's he still doing hanging around?"

Roxas wanted to mention something about the Heartless when he was cut off by Goofy's voice coming from around the corner. "And those Organization XIII in charge, too!"

What happened next chilled all three Nobodies to the bone. A clear deep voice cut through the air.

"You called?"

**_They_ **were here, the very bane of Roxas's existence, the whole reason they were in this mess to begin with.

Organization XIII was here. They had finally found Sora, and soon very soon they would find the Rouges.

* * *

A/N: Oof this chapter was a long one. A two parter actually. So to give context. Think of Sora was a cell tower, the closer you are the better the signal. And now introducing ORGANIZATION XIII! Complete with disembodied voices, mystery hoods etc. I can't believe this story has over 50 follower, amazing. But if i'm being honest, I'm not happy with this chapter. Feels too much like filler, ya know? Anyways, what did you think? I'd love some feedback.


	7. Organization XIII

"You called?"

Sora could feel a sense of pure anger bubbling up from within him. He summoned his keyblade and looked around for the source of the voice, but found nothing. He turned to Donald and Goofy, who looked just as confused but determined as he did. They all ran from the viewing platform out into the open. There was no one there.

"You seem well." Another disembodied voice. It sounded slightly different from the first one. Once again Sora found himself to be uncharacteristically angry at the mere thought of who these voices could belong to.

"Who's that." He shouted out.

"The Keyblade.. a marvelous weapon. Tell me, where does your confidence come from... _brave one chosen by the Keyblade?"_ There was a sense of mockery coming from the newcomer. Out in the distance, a familiar swirl of darkness echoed through the air. On the castle wall six hooded figures appeared off in the distance. Around them several of those nobodies appeared. Dusks, he think they were called.

Leon gasped in surprise. Behind him the entrance to the bailey was cut off with strange black and white barriers resembling an "X".

Sora glared at the newcomers. He knew who they were, Master Yen Sid told him their name. Sora gritted his teeth, "Organization XIII!"

* * *

"Organization XIII!"

Before they could be outed into the open, a familiar barrier appeared separated them and Sora. The Dusks that were in the area retried back into nothingness, leaving Axel Roxas and Xion both relieved and confused.

They stopped to gather what happened, no one dared to dismiss their weapons. Only a fool would disarm themselves in a situation as dire as this one. Off in the distance, Xion paled as the voice of their ex-superior rang out. "Your overconfidence in your real ability will be your undoing." Xemnas's words cut through her. He wasn't just taunting Sora but warning him as well. "You're just a conceited little boy who needs to be taught a lesson."

The sound of a short battle came from around the corner. Oblivion shook in Roxas's hand. Xemnas _here_. Their Master, their Superior, the leader of the Organization was only a few feet away. One of the many people who had a hand in tearing Roxas and his friends apart. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to go out into open where Sora was and join the fight. He glanced at Xion and Axel. If Xemnas laid eyes in them, they'd all be doomed.

Axel placed his hand over the boy's shoulder he brought his finger up to his lip before moving right next to the barrier. The other two looked scared but placed themselves against the wall. Still out of sight from Sora and the Organization, but now they were close enough to listen at the confrontation.

"Come down here so we can settle this!" Sora shouted. Which only served to confirm Roxas's belief of his Somebody being a reckless idiot.

"WHat a shame, and here I thought we could be friends." Xion's mouth opened up in shock. Xigbar, the Organization's second member was being the same sarcastic asshole as always. But if Xigbar was here, was the rest of the Organization here was well?

Her question was answered as a chorus of mocking laughter rang out from the other members.

A quick yelp projected out, followed by hiss of pain. Axel closed his eyes and kept his face passive. It didn't take long to realize what the Organization was doing. Sora, for now, was in no real danger. They were toying with him, testing the boy's limit. Poking and prodding at the young wielder hoping to make him snap. With Sora still recovering from the mess that was Castle Oblivion he was far too weak to be of any use for Organization. For now at least, the Organization had plans but for that they would need Sora to become stronger.

"Quack! There's more of them!" A common Dusk is slightly on par with a Shadow, but even the rogue trio knew Dusks in large numbers could become overwhelmingly strong.

"Leon! Watch out!"

"Wha- AGH!"

The sound of laughter turned to cheering. "Come on kid! You can do it!" Despite his anger towards the Organization, there was one person who'm Roxas didn't blame at all. How Demyx came to joint the Organization will forever be a mystery. But it was obvious he was probably the only one there will no malice intents.

They heard Xigbar snicker, "Come on, cheer him on like you mean it."

Sora was panting. He must have been exhausted by now yet he kept going. "So? Who's next!"

Roxas glared and let out a harsh whisper, "That idiot doesn't know when to shut up, does he?"

"Let me give you some good advice, tiger." It was Xigbar again. "You're not maximizing the powers of the Keyblade." He pointed out, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It struck a nerve with Axel and Roxas for different reasons. What does Xigbar know about the keyblade? He doesn't even have one.

More laughter rang out, followed by the sound of dark corridors. One by one the Organization members disappeared.

"Wack? Stop!" The sound of webbed feet slapping against concrete pavement before coming to a stop at the sound of another corridor opening. "What's the big idea!" Donald quacked in frustration.

"Oopsie-daisy!" Xigbar again.

Xion was confused, so very confused. Why was Xigbar out of all the members, the one antagonizing Sora the most? Xemnas and Saix she could understand, but Xigbar? It made no sense.

"Move!" Sora demanded.

Xigbar just laughed, "You know _he _used to give me that exact look!" His laugh sent a chill down everyone's spine.

Clearly it struck a nerve with Sora, "I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff!"

"As if," There it was, his signature catchphrase, "You need to practice your moves tigger. Or else he would have disappeared for nothing... Well, be a good boy now."

Roxas mind froze. Did Xigbar think he was dead? That he had returned to Sora and just... disappeared? Was it just Xigbar? Or did the rest of the Organization assume he was gone. Some of the only people who of this existence suddenly no longer believed he was still alive. What would they do if they suddenly knew he was alive? No, it wasn't just him. He realized they didn't mention Xion at all. Did they think she was gone too? Forget what would happen if they found him. What would happen if they found her. And Axel had the chance to bring them both back but chose to run away as well. They knew he was out there, somewhere. For now Axel wasn't on the Organization's radar. But no doubt they'd take him out the second he made himself known.

"Roxas!" He looked up to see Axel and Xion getting up, their faces hidden by the shadow of their hoods.

"Come one bud, we need to go, now." Axel hushered him and Xion back to the borough. From the corner of his eye Roxas could see the barricade the Organization set up was gone. If they stayed any longer it's no doubt they'd be discovered.

Sora's voice still lingered in the distance, "-weird. Who gave him a weird look?"

Roxas kept his lips close, but the there was another part of him that wanted to say... 'I did.'

* * *

The sky around the bailey dulled for a moment before a keyhole appeared in the sky. A bright beam of light shot up from the ground before hitting the keyhole.

Sora watched as the sky returned back to normal. "Oh... now I get it. That must've been the gate Yen Sid talked about."

The gate betweens worlds was now open, which meant his adventure would now have to continue. But... he looked at Donald, Goofy and Leon. They all looked absolutely beat. From the distance there was a flicker of black. Near the bailey a shadowy figure peeked from the corner.

'Another Organization member?!' He thought to himself.

Before he could react the Organization member lifted their arm at him. A green glow surrounded him and his friends. To his surprise the aching in his body began to fade away. He looked in awe as the bruises on his arms and legs began to disappear.

He could hear Leon sigh out in relief, "Thanks for the heal Donald."

Sora looked back to where he last saw the figure. "But Donald didn't..." his voice trailed off when see saw there was nobody there anymore.

"Garwsh, did you say something Sora." Goofy asked.

Sora snapped out of his little trance. "Huh? Nah, just thinking out loud."

Leon brushed himself off, "So Organization XIII huh? They look tough."

"Nothing we can't handle." Sora countered.

Leon chuckled, "Well I'm sure the others will want to hear about those guys. Why don't you Donald and Goofy stay over for dinner."

Sora wanted to protest but the rumbling in his stomach beat him too it. He smiled sheepishly. "Uh, I think that answers that."

Leon chuckled a bit, "Come on, I think Aerith is making dinner, so don't get your hopes up."

* * *

Merlin and Aerith walked along the market to gather ingredients for tonight's meal. Leon had convinced Sora and his friends to stay the night. Hopefully it'd give them time to catch up on the year they missed. Ever since Sora left the year prior, the self proclaimed "Hollow Bastion recreation committee" had been busy restoring their world back to its former glory. It had been a slow process not mentioning all the various setbacks mostly caused by heartless attacks. Then somewhere along the way they just.. forgotten about the boy who saved the worlds. That was up until a week ago when a Merlin brought in a strange pair of brothers.

One of them Aerith recognized. Last time she saw the red-head he was just a trouble making boy who always tried to break into the castle. Lea, or Axel as he now called himself. He had grown, now he towered over her. . Along with Axel, there was a boy who he claimed to be his brother, Roxas. There was something about the blond that she couldn't place her finger on. He looked familiar, when she looked at him, it was like she was seeing someone else instead. Then a few days after they arrived, they just disappeared. Not that she was surprised, Axel seemed very secretive whenever they interacted. He even went as far as to use Reno's identity as his own.

They were just gone. And yet she still found herself visiting their house. Occasionally she'd enter to check if anyone came back. She made sure to the kitchen had some food and working water. She had a feeling, she hasn't seen the last of Axel and Roxas.

Then Sora appeared... so did their memories of him. Aerith had a feeling, that somehow it was all connected. But how?

* * *

The safe house, as Xion recalled, is where Axel and Roxas hid for a while before they were found by Riku. It was small by cozy, not that she minded. Especially after knowing they'd be spending the night there. After all, she may or may not have lingered by in the Bailey to cast a small cure spell on Sora and his friends. Axel scolded her slightly for being reckless, but was relieved to know that they were safe for the moment.

So now she laid in a bed at that wasn't hers, in a house she had nothing to do with waiting for her eyes to close. Tomorrow Sora would leave Hollow Bastion to who knows what world. She may not have felt as weak as before, but she was still nervous. Unlike Roxas, she couldn't feel her keyblade at all anymore. Roxas could still summon his, both of his to be exact. It was just like the first time she lost her keyblade. There was an overwhelming sense of fear. How was she supposed to protect herself without her keyblade. Once again, she was the weak link. Without her keyblade all she was doing was hold Axel and Roxas back. She was usele-

'No,' She thought to herself, 'I'm not useless.'

Xion sat up in the bed and began to take deep breaths. 'You were never useless. Magic... I'm still good at magic. I've always been good at magic.

As her breathing began to even out, she felt upset at herself. She almost called herself useless, she almost believed it too. Axel and Roxas would never let anyone call her useless, much less herself. If she wanted to be helpful until her keyblade returned, the first thing she had to change was the way she looked at herself.

'My name is Xion, My best friends are Roxas and Axel. We're on the run, but we're running together.' In her hands she cradled a small flame, 'I may not be able to use the keyblade now, but-' With a flick of her wrist the fire in her hand jumped to a nearby candle, 'I'll fight for them. One way or another.'

She smiled as the candle flickered in agreement. With that she laid back down on her bed and closed her eyes.

* * *

A/N: So that's it for Hollow Bastion, next top iiiss... hmm... Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Also as a heads up I might go back to "Bringing Them Back" and reformat the first couple of chapters. As always feel free to comment and review.


	8. The Enchanted Castle

It was early morning when the gps started to go off. Xion was the first to notice, quickly she ran to notify the others. A few moments later, all three of them stood outside the small house watching as the gummiship rose higher and higher into the sky before leaving the world. They waited until the spacecraft became nothing but a speck against the rosy sky as it vanished. With that they waited until the gps informed them to which world Sora would land in.

They waited, and waited.

Until half an hour later when the gps went off again. Roxas grinned, he once had plenty of memories from previous worlds Sora as visited. But this world wasn't one of them . This one he explored on his own. He showed the map to Axel, who promptly proceeded to make a dark corridor. He peeked into the corridor and gave them the all clear.

Roxas and Xion walked through the corridor first. Axel gave Hollow Bastion one last look before giving his homeworld a proper goodbye.

* * *

There was a slight chill in the air. A dark castle was hidden away by never ending forest. The light from the stars hardly light up the night sky, and the moon was nowhere to be found.

A small shout was heard from within the castle. It was obvious that Sora and his friends were already in battle.

Xion sighed. She knew her way around the Beast's Castle. Most Organization members did. In fact, the primary objective in the Beast's Castle was to avoid the Castle's master, The Beast. The Beast was a terrifying creature, however Xion didn't think he was necessarily bad. But he certainly did not like visitors. Clearly she wasn't the only one who thought so.

"You know, I'm glad Roxas joined the Organization. I don't think Sora would have lasted a day, at least Roxas was quiet during his missions." Axel mentioned out loud.

Roxas nodded in agreement, "Yeah, luckily this castle has plenty of places for us to hide. But the passage that was here before, it's gone."

Axel looked around the courtyard. There was a secret entrance that lead to the main hall, but it was sealed off. There was an uneasy feeling near the back of neck. While Roxas and Xion worked on opening up the hidden entrance, Axel studied the outside of the castle. He could see where the master bedroom was, presumably the Beast's were two shadowy figures coming from the balcony. One of them he clearly recognized.

"Hey Axel." His attention was shifted to the two keyblade wielders who already opened up the hidden entrance own their own. Roxas and Xion gave him a strange look, they must have noticed something was off. Axel gave the Beast's balcony one last look before ushering everyone to the passageway.

"I'll tell you once we're out of sight."

•••

"Xaldin?!" Xion whispered loudly as they traversed the hidden passage way.

Axel huffed a bit, "No doubt about it. Xaldin was talking to Beast just now. Heck he still may be in the Castle."

Roxas thought for a moment, "But why would Xaldin be here? He doesn't even like the Beast. Always calls the Beast a monster. Actually... now that I think about it. I used to see Xaldin here a lot even

when he didn't have a mission here."

Axel sighed in frustration, "Well with you two brats 'gone'" He said gone with air quotes, "The Organization are missing their personal heartless collectors. My guess is the Beast has a strong enough heart to make a nice addition to Kingdom Hearts. Who knows, maybe he might be make a nice Nobody to join the ranks."

Moments later they saw as the Beast walked out with a very familiar rose. The Beast left the parlor without saying a word. Sora and company quickly followed. DOnald rubbed his cheek, he looked angry. But that wasn't what the trio was looking at. As the Beast left for the West wing a woman watched him from the entrance to the East wing. There was a sad look in her eyes, a look Roxas a very familiar with. But he couldn't quiet place where. They weren't the only ones to see her. Donald clearly watched as the woman shook her head sadly before going back into the East wing.

"Belle." The name slipped from Roxas's tongue automatically.

"She's pretty." Xion whispered as Sora, Donald and Goofy followed her into the East wing. They had heard about Belle before, but for Xion, it was her first time actually seeing the woman.

"Well she is a Princess of Heart, Not sure what she's doing in a dark place like this though." Axel mumbled to himself. He nudged Roxas and Xion, "Come on let's tail them"

* * *

"The Beast won't talk to you?" Donald asked.

Belle shook her head, "He's been acting strange lately. The only ones who might know why are locked up in the dungeon. I want to help them but..."

Sora looked outraged, "Wait a second. Who locked who up?!"

"The Beast locked up his servants." Belle said with a sigh.

Donald scratched his head, "But why?"

Belle just looked down. "That's what I don't know."

Sora frowned for a moment. "Where's the dungeon?"

Belle perked up a bit. "You can get to the undercroft from the West hall. The dungeon is down there."

Sora gave her a thumbs up, "Leave it to us! We'll save them."

•••

Goofy couldn't help but to be slightly confused as Sora struggled to move the wardrobe. They had made to the West hall just fine, especially with Sora leading the way. But something didn't sit right with the knight. How did Sora know where the west wing was in the first place? The Beast's Castle was destroyed by the Heartless over a year ago. Sora has never been to this world, yet not only did he know where the west wing was. He also knew where the undercroft was. Something was different about Sora.

Goofy gave Donald a worried glance. But the duck just watched as Sora pushed the wardrobe. Still he worried about the boy. He was too stubborn for his own good, too selfless to ask for help, too afraid of looking weak. As much as Goofy wanted to deny it, Sora reminded him of his own son, Max. Maybe that's why he was so worried over Sora's new strange behavior. And not to mention being in this creepy old castle didn't help at all. Goofy could have sworn there were shadows following them all over the place,and he wasn't referring to the heartless kind. He looked over his shoulder just in case.

* * *

"That was close." Roxas breathed out as he ducked behind staircase.

Xion frowned as she held Axel's head down. "At least you're easy to hide. This one the other hand. Does your hair have to be so spiky? You're already tall enough as it is Axel."

Axel quickly flipped his hood over his head defensively. "Okay, okay. Now you know why I'm not the one that gets sent to stealth missions. And if you're so sneaky why don't you peak over and see what they're talking about."

Xion puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, "Fine." She peeked over the stair railing and leaned in closer. Luckily both Donald and Goofy kept their backs turned towards her. She listened for a moment before ducking again.

"So?"

She glared at Axel before turning to Roxas, excluding the red-head entirely. "They're talking about the curse."

Roxas frowned "The one that turned the people into furniture?" he offered.

She nodded, "Yep that one. Apparently the rest of the servants will tell them the whole story once Sora rescues them. Still..." Xion mumbled to herself , "Why would the Beast lock up his own servants? He seemed so determined to protect the castle last time we were here."

"I think this might have to do with a certain Nobody lurking around the castle. If so we should be more careful, Xaldin isn't someone to be underestimated. Sora will have a long way to go before he can even go anywhere near Xaldin's level. That goes for you two as well twerps."

"So now what do we do now?" Roxas asked.

Axel gave him a glance. "Now we wait until Sora exits the secret passage. Can't risk getting caught."

And so they waited, and waited. And some more. They could have gone through the other entrance, but they have risked Sora going in a different direction. So they told tales to pass the time.

"- and so he got annoyed because I pointed out the couch. A couch! I wasn't even going to sit down. Who puts a whole couch in the hallway anyways?!" Roxas recalled while Axel and Xion laughed. Roxas still wasn't over the fact how the wind-user treated him on missions.

It wasn't long until the door near the stairway opened up to reveal Sora, Donald, Goofy and.. a clock?

"The Master's room is at the very end of the west wing." The clock said. Sora and his friends nodded, then followed the talking clock to the Beast's room.

Roxas narrowed his eyes as Sora turned the corner out of his sights. "Let's go."

* * *

"It's time you dealt with Belle. She's scheming to take everything you have. This castle, your precious rose And then your life. Trust no one. Feed your anger! Only angery will keep you strong."

The Beast's shoulder sagged tiredly, he gave out a heavy sigh. "I've had enough of strength." He admitted, "There's only one thing I-"

The other figure scoffed in amusement, "What? To love and be loved loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?"

The Beast's eye shot back at the hooded figure, he roared out in anger. Behind him the door swung open. The figure watched as the keyblade's chosen walked right into the room with his friends. The light that trickled into the room reflected off the hilt of the keyblade.

The hooded figure smirked at Sora's arrival. "See? She has accomplices." He lifted his arms and raises a barrier within the room and disappeared.

Sora waved at the Beast, "Hey Prince."

The Beast's eyes set on Sora. He had a new target.

* * *

Xaldin made sure the barrier would hold until he reached the other side of the castle. Now he had the another problem to deal with. He teleported just outside the Beast's room, he could hear the Beast roar as he attacked Sora.

"Hmpf, it's not like you to get attached like this, Axel."

Halfway down the hallway Axel smirked, "What can I say, I'm fond of the kid."

Xaldin's eye narrowed, "What's your game Number VIII. Chasing after Sora won't return Roxas to you. You failed Axel, Roxas is gone. Lord Xemnas now has a bounty over your head."

Axel rolled his eyes, "Of course he does. So? You gonna collect your prize?" He gestured at himself suggestively.

Xaldin just walked past him, "Dealing with you isn't worth the bounty. But Saix might think otherwise, and I'd hate to deprive him of the pleasure." With he disappeared in a corridor of darkness.

Axel looked over his shoulder to find no one with him. "You two can come out now."

Two suits of armor shook as two pair of blue eyes peeked from the helmet. Roxas and Xion revealed themselves from their hiding spot.

Xion's eyes lingered at where Xaldin once was. 'He didn't even mention me.' She thought. There was a twinch of disappoint to having her existence invalidated. Xaldin's comment not reaffirmed her belief that not only did Organization believe that Roxas had returned to Sora. But that they had completely forgotten her completely. It upset her, but she couldn't pinpoint why. She felt a tugging on her sleeve.

Roxas pulled her away from the hall. "Come on we have to check on Sora."

She took one more look to where Xaldin was.

She hoped they wouldn't run into him again.

* * *

A/N: OMG I'm so sorry I haven't updated in like two weeks. This story is still going, fear not. Originally I was going to make each world visit one chapter, but then it was getting too long. What I'm trying to say is that expect the next chapter sooner rather than later, seeing as how I had to cut this chapter up into a two-parter. Also a quick update. I'm on AO3! Still the same user name and I'll slowly repost this story on there. will still be my main website, however. Anyways like, comment, faviotre, ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Until next time.

~Ink.


	9. Golden Eyes

"Oh dear! Master! Please, Master! Please! Compose yourself!" Cogsworth cried out as the Beast swiped his claws at Sora.

Goofy jumped in front of Sora with his shield raised high. The following impact pushed Sora and Goofy back on to the barrier.

Donald aimed his staff at the Beast and shouted "Thunder!"

The Beast stumbled back, roaring out in pain as he was struck by the lightening.

From behind the door Xion placed her hand on the barrier and whispered another cure spell aimed at Sora and Goofy. While Roxas and Axel swatted away any stray heartless that attempted to join the fight.

With renewed energy Sora lept from behind Goofy and landed a blow directly on the Beast's chest. This time the Beast fell on his knees.

He groaned slowly. His eyes no longer hazy. "Cogsworth... what happened." The Beast asked.

Cogsworth was skittish. "Well, Master... ah, you see...t-that is... How shall I say.. well uh..."

Donald rolled his eyes. "Well, you put everyone down there in that dungeon!" There was a bit of anger in his voice.

The Beast's eyes went wide, his shoulders fell slightly, "I did what?"

Cogsworth walked towards the Beast and patted him gently on the leg. The Beast just stared at the floor ashamed.

There was a moment of silence before Sora spoke up. "Who was the guy you were talking to? The one in the black coat?"

Even though nobody else said anything, they all wanted to know what happened to the Beast in order the make him snap. Three hidden figures were especially interested to find out what their former coworker was doing outside his missions.

The Beast sighed out in exhaustion. "Xaldin... that's his name. He came from the darkness. H-he used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain and used it all into rage. There was nothing I could do... I could no longer see the truth." He admitted.

•••

Xion gripped the side of the of the door. She was shaking without even knowing it as she listened into the conversion. The Beast was cleary surrounded by all these people who cared for him? Why couldn't he just let them help him instead of dealing with Xaldin on his own?

She could see Goofy scratching his head. "Gawrsh, well I'll be." The knight started. "That must be why you threw all your friends down there into the dungeon. You wanted to make sure you didn't hurt 'em, right?"

The Beast mumbled, "Was that it? To protect them?"

Something in his voice struck a chord in Xion. She wanted to go into the room. She wanted to yell at the Beast and tell him to quit being stupid and just open up. She wanted to plead with him not to make the same mistake she did. After all, pushing your precious people away was never a good idea.

But she didn't, instead she backed away. Opting instead to follow Roxas and Axel as they mumermed a plan to keep a safe distance from both Sora and Xaldin. The trio walked away from the from the master bedroom.

Roxas gave Axel a worried glance as they noticed Xion lagging behind them once they entered the secret passage. The two Nobodies looked over their shoulders to see the youngest Nobody looking down. They shrugged and slowed down their pace so Xion could catch up with them. They contemplated for a moment.

Being the adult he was, Axel spoke first. "Hey Xion? Did something happen? You're kinda quiet?" He asked softly.

Xion looked up for moment. Axel and Roxas's eyes looked so worried, all for her. It made her feel... guilty? Was that the right emotion? Guilt? Guilt that she didn't reach for help sooner. Roxas didn't know until it was too late, and Axel was never given a chance to help. If she had just reached out, there they were only a few feet away from her. Maybe it wasn't too late, maybe she could still reach out now to quiet her troubled mind. After all, what good was a second chance if she ended up repeating the same mistakes as before?

Xion took a deep breath. This time she would reach out, but before she could speak a loud roar echoed through the secret passage. It sounded close.

'_I'll tell you later.' _She mouthed. And with that they ran into the main hall before taking a shortcut into the first passage that overlooked the main hall.

They barely made in time, as soon as they were well hidden Sora and the Beast were seen running to the East hall. It was like they were running towards _something_. Towards what, who knew? Now that the trio were out of sight they had more pressing matters to attend to.

The sea-salt trio took a moment to catch their breath, it seems all they ever do now is run around in circles. Not that they minded.

Axel turned his attention to Xion, who was fitting under Roxas's worried gaze. "Xion?"

The raven-haired girl looked up at the sound of her name. There was a sense of shame at how much they worried over her and yet it was also comforting.

Axel sat on one of the many crates that littered the passage, he patted the space next to him. Xion said nothing but sat down next to him.

Roxas followed, he frowned when he realized there wasn't enough space for all three of them. So instead he settled for a nearby crate. It confused him, Xion seemed fine not too long ago. Yet something bothered him. Xion seemed fine not too long ago. And it couldn't possibly be something related to their power and Sora, or else he would feel off too. Maybe it was one of those girl things Axel warned him about. He remembered the last conversation they had about girls and trying not to push the wrong buttons.

Xion closed her hands together, it was a bad habit she picked up whenever she was nervous. "I'm sorry."

Axel and Roxas just stared at her. Out of all things for Xion to say, they didn't expect an apology to be one of them.

"But Xion, you haven't done anything wrong." Roxas tried to say.

Xion just shook her head. "SaiX used to call me a monster. " Her words cut through both Axel and Roxas. "And maybe he was right."

Axel did his best to keep his temper in check "That's not true Xi-" But Xion cut him off.

"Xaldin called the Beast a monster too. And that's when I realized the Beast and I aren't so different. You saw it too, didn't you? The Beast almost lost himself in in darkness, the way he isolated himself. He was so caught up in himself that he didn't see that he had people around him that care for him. He just pushed them away, and because of that Xaldin almost succeeded." Xion stared straight at Axel and Roxas. "He should have just let them help him! I should have just let you help _me." _Her eyes began to water. "If I just opened up in the first place instead of keeping it to myself then maybe... maybe things would have turned out different. But instead I hurt you both. Axel, Roxas, I'm sorry."

Axel's face just softened. 'So that's what was bothering her. Jeez these kids are making me soft.' He thought to himself.

Roxas reached over and grabbed her hand. "It wasn't just you. We all messed up. Right Axel?"

Axel couldn't help but to smile at the two pair of eyes looking back at him. "Admittedly we could have handled that better. But as long as we're open and honest with each other now, everything will turn out alright. And hey, I'd say we're doing pretty good so far." He offered.

Xion smiled up at him, leaning over she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Thank you, Axel." She whispered.

Axel could feel his face burn up. something that was backed up by the sound of snickering next to him. "Oi, what are you laughing at?"

Roxas just snickered as he leaned in to join the hug. "Xion was right, you really are sweet. I don't know why you act all tough, you're just a softie."

Axel just held them tighter for a moment. Just for a moment he let them enjoy the hug. "Now get off me you little gremlins, we have a mission." He said as he tried to free himself from his two favorite people. With all three of them having smiles on their faces they finally returned to the task in hand.

Finding Sora. But how?

Apparently following the sound of metal clashing come from down the hall.

The trio scrambled down the hall and into the second floor of the ball room. Or what they thought was the ballroom. Another barrier impeded them from continuing even further. Occasionally the barrier would waiver to reveal the battle within. Whatever heartless Sora was battling, it was clearly putting up a fight.

Roxas couldn't help but to grit his teeth. If it wasn't for the barrier he'd have no problem jumping into the battle. It was irritating, but instead he was currently side-lined. How was he suppose to get stronger if he couldn't even fight? He quickly glanced over to Axel and Xion. They were currently looking for breaks in the barrier, Axel sent out fire spelling while Xion used her ice and cure magic to help out. His magic may have improved, but it was nowhere near their level.

He gripped the railing as he watched Donald and Goofy get thrown to the other side of the ballroom. 'Come on Sora, you gotta finish it now.' The Beast attempted to attack the heartless but he knocked off to the side by the swinging chandelier. Which left Sora as the last man standing. Roxas reached out his hand, almost as to use his own power to give Sora a much need boost.

The chandelier possesed heartless swung around again with Sora caught in the crossfire. The brown haired boy was tossed up into the hair. His face looked pained. And in the split second Sora was in the air, Roxa saw something he never wanted to see ever again.

"SORA!" Roxas cried out as he made eye contact with his other. His blue eyes met Sora's golden eyes. It sent a chill down his spine. Wisps of darkness began to emerge from Sora's skin, leaving the skin darkened. It was almost inhuman. For that split second Sora reached out to Roxas with his clawed hands before he fell back down into the ballroom floor.

The second Sora touched the ground Roxas could see Sora's brown spiky hair bouncing around once more as continued to fight. He faltered a bit in his steps, but other than that Sora continued to fight as if nothing happened. Roxas took a few steps back. He looked over to see if Axel or Xion saw anything, but they were too busy healing Sora's companions.

'What was that?' he thought. For a moment he could have sworn Sora looked like a heartless. But that was impossible, wasn't? Surely if something happened to Sora he would have felt it. Xion should've felt it! But they didn't. As Sora swung his keyblade into the Heartless, Roxas couldn't help but to feel a sickening twist in his stomach as a bright pink heart floated into the air.

Heartless... There was no way Sora was heartless? Was there?

* * *

Xaldin stepped back into the white-washed castle he learned to call home. He couldn't help but to grin.

'An interesting visit if I do say so myself.' Xaldin took a moment to gaze upon the heart-shaped moon in the sky. Sure he technically failed his mission, but the information gathered will serve to be invaluable to the Organization. Especially regarding Sora and Axel. He chuckled a bit, to think that Axel out of all people had betrayed them.

"Is there any particular reason you have yet to turn in your mission report?"

Xaldin turned around to see Saix glaring at him, or perhaps that was his natural look. To think someone like Saix stood as Xemnas' right hand, it irked Xaldin. "I assume if it was a normal mission then I suppose that mission report would have been turned in by now. But of course we all know the world doesn't work that way."

Saix scowled. "You better have a good excuse for your behavior."

"Ha, you think you hold power over me? If you're so high and mighty why don't you bring Sora here yourself. Or are you afraid of getting involved with Axel's new friends?"

Saix's face remained still but even Xaldin could see the amber hues threatening to go feral.

Xaldin just let out an empty laugh, "Oh? Did I forget to mention, seems your little friend has left you again. But don't worry, you can read all about it in my report." With that he let himself out of the Grey Area, leaving Saix alone with his thoughts.

The blue-haired man did his best to ignore the way his golden eyes reflected off the glass, a constant reminder of who he now was. 'Abandoned us again, huh Lea?' His kept glowing until the whole iris was a brilliant amber. He smashed his fist into the glass, shattering the whole panel. Saix's hand trembled in anger as it began to bleed.

He could feel the darkness creeping up inside him.

He and Axel were in this together. For _her. _

"And yet he already left you twice." He stated bitterly.

So what was the point, he was already too far gone to change. And without Axel by his side what was the point in resisting. At that moment he looked up at the heart-shaped moon above him. Kingdom Hearts. And he gave into the darkness.

* * *

A/N: -And then I got a job, watched Endgame,and then I won tickets to see flippin HAMILTON on the last day of the Philip Tour here in the DFW, and _then _I had finals! And then all my khux pull have been absolute garbage, zero new medals. But enough of all that, KTT finally is updated. I'm telling you I added waaay more than I should have but hey, that's the price of character development. I really want the Trinity Trio and the Sea-salt Trio to interact, not necessarily to join up, but to be aware of each other. Oh well, leave a like, fav, comment. That whole jazz.

Also I'm not that great at fight scenes so if anyone knows any references that could help, could you leave them in the comments. Thanks

~Ink


	10. Dragons and Huns

Axel laughed to himself as he watched Sora and his friends made their way the training camp with a strange looking soldier. It didn't take long for the group to accidentally start trouble. The army's general quickly came out and put an end to the nonsense.

From the look of it, it seemed like there was a war on the horizon. Judging by the looks of things this side was getting real desperate for new recruits. It would take quite a bit of intense training to turn those fools into competent solider. But not all news was bad news. Roxas and Xion found a cave near the outskirts of the bamboo forest from which they could oversee the training grounds. They barely got any work done in the last world. This world was perfect for them to get stronger.

Axel backed into the darkness of the forest. Looks like they'll be staying in this world for while. Might as well tell the kids to get comfortable.

* * *

Mulan... she was interesting.

A woman pretending to be a man in order to protect her father.

Xion couldn't help but to admire her. Sure Mulan wasn't the strongest or even the fastest but she had determination. She did was right even when others disagreed, it was inspiring. Axel even nabbed a few training suits from the camp so she and Roxas could train like her from afar. Not that Xion disliked being around Axel and Roxas, but sometimes they could be such... boys. Having someone like Mulan around was a breath of fresh air for Xion.

She didn't meant to be discovered, but it turned out to be the best mistake of her life. Xion and Mulan immediately hit it off. Both had people to protect and identities to keep secret. Sure Xion's situation was a bit more complicated, but Mulan was supportive. So in the middle of the night both girls would sneak away from their friends and would meet up to train.

"So how's the guardian life working out for you?" Mulan asked one day in between sessions.

"Guardian? Care to elaborate _Ping."_

_"_Well, you're job us basically to look after Sora, so that makes you his guardian. Kinda like Mushu." Mulan elaborated.

Xion stopped to pause for a moment, "Well I guess that makes some sense. But you know about Mushu, Roxas and I- We can't get near Sora."

"Well why not?"

"He'd freak out! If he freaks out, we freak out and the Organization could find out, that's why."

Mulan reached over to comfort Xion, "You're scared about how Sora will react."

"What if... Do you think he'll hate us." Xion's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Sora... He isn't that type of person. For all you know he must be as scared and confused as you are. Except he doesn't know what's going on." The older girl offered.

Xion thought for a bit. "Do you think... maybe I should try to talk to him?"

Mulan smiled, "Well I can't exactly tell Shang that Ping is actually Mulan... but if there was a way. I'd love to be just Mulan. Did I tell you how Goofy was the first one to figure out who I am." She confessed.

"Goofy? No way... But if Sora didn't figure it out and Goofy did. Maybe if we tell leave them clues, we can keep everyone safe while keeping everyone together!" Xion realized.

"Atta girl."

Xion beamed, "So you what's going on between you and Shang?"

* * *

Sora sung a bamboo stick around. Mulan, no, Ping was finally being accepted into the troops. He had no reason to be worried about her anymore. Sure General Shang was a bit of a jerk but his heart was in the right place. And more importantly, Sora felt like he was in the right place. Ever since he woke up he'd felt weak, sluggish. There was a few times were he was slipping.

But here? It had been a few weeks since he's arrived in the Land of Dragon and he felt better than ever. Maybe it was because of the constant training but he no longer felt weak. The occasional heartless attack only proved to Sora that he was getting stronger.

He hit the practice dummy with his bamboo stick once again. Sora carefully placed his hand over his heart.

Did darkness somehow find its way into his heart while he slept? Is that why his heart was wavering? Was his heart faltering? Sora didn't know and it scared him. There were times where he wanted to just breakdown and reach for Donald and Goofy for support. But that fear held him back.

He just wanted to find Riku and go back to Destiny Island. His Island and more importantly, he wanted to back to Kairi. He missed her.

Sora shook those thoughts out of his head. General Shang had a mission for him and Mulan tomorrow. He wasn't about to blow Mulan's cover because he was being selfish.

If only he only he knew, he wasn't being selfish at all.

"Your mission is to secure the path over the summit so our company can pass. I've authorized you to be let through the summit. Don't let me down." General Shang command right before Sora and his friends left for their mission.

'Mission.' Sora didn't know the why but that word left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Yes Captain!"

In the mountain pass there were heartless that Sora had never seen before. And more unnerving, there were much less than he expected. Much less.

"Is it just me or are there no heartless here?" he asked out loud.

Donald and Goofy looked around.

"Garwsh you know, there were a lot more heartless before. That's why the army couldn't cross sooner." Goofy pointed out.

Mulan just stayed silent, she knew who had taken care of the heartless in the area. Mushu himself had made sure they had gotten word of the mission early.

"Let's just get to the mountain village. Shang's father is waiting for us in the mountain village."

* * *

"The one-eyed man said there'd be traitors, I never would have thought he taking about his own." Shan Yu said out-loud as he faced of with the Nobody Trio. He laughed as the blonde one glared at him, "I suppose it'd to be too much to ask to keep quiet about the General's death."

A fireball was shot his way, one which he dodged with ease. He couldn't tell if it was the tall one or the girl with short hair that shot it at him. He had to admit these newcomers were giving him a harder time than the Emperor's army. "Still, I never expected the Emperor to recruit children into his army."

"SHUT UP!" the blonde one barked at him. The boy summoned a strange sword to his side, the man summoned two disk and the girl's hand glowed with a light blue hue.

Shan Yu just scoffed, he could feel the darkness within him giving him strength. "Very well then, you shall meet the same fate as the General."

Pools of Darkness began to form on the cave floor, several heartless emerged from the ground. Shan Yu pulled his own sword and pointed it at the trio. "Let's begin."

* * *

Sora's heart sank the moment he stepped foot on the decimated village. The other soldiers scattered in hopes of finding survivors.

Mushu shifted nervously on Mulan's shoulder. "Shan Yu. They're here." He whispered in her ear.

Donald raised an eyebrow, "Who are they?"

"They? Oh uh they're uh-" Mulan stammered.

"They're Shan Yu's army!" Mushu interjected as he did his best to ignore the suspicious stares from Sora and his friends. "Don't look at me that way, Shan Yu's nearby. I can smell him." His hissed as he smelled the air.

Goofy chuckled, "I thought you didn't do the snake thing Mushu."

"Yeah will consider this an exception. Now we gotta get to Shan Yu before the rest of the army does, this our chance for Mulan to shine. TO THE CAVES!"

Everyone nodded in unison, "Right."

Turned out the caves where just a short walk from the camp. Just entering the cave gave Sora a bad vibe yet there a feeling he quite couldn't shake. Abandoned carts full of canons and gunpowder littered the tunnel in the cave. The further they went into the cave the more Sora felt a strong pull.

Something was there that was connected to him. He could feel it.

The sound of metal clashing echoed through the walls of the cave.

Goofy placed his hand out motioning the group to stop.

"Gawrsh, ya hear that fellas?"

Donald cupped his hand next to his ear. "Sounds like a fight."

If there was a fight then maybe... "Maybe some of the soldiers from General Lee's army are still here fighting Shan Yu! We gotta go help!"

With that Sora ran off towards the source of the noise, the pulling at his heart felt stronger. More importantly it felt right, something he hadn't felt since he woke up. So he ran and ran until he could see the light of explosions coming from the cave. The pull felt so familiar, so warm. It almost felt like...

"KAIRI!" He shouted as he burst into the cave and was instantly thrown back by a fire spell.

"SORA!" Donald and Goofy called out after him. Sora groaned as he nursed the back of his head. He forced his eyes open just in time to see Mulan run past him.

"Come on Sora, you have to get up." Donald pleaded.

He could hear the faint sound of a corridor opening. "Organization... XIII." Sora didn't hesitate. He sprinted into the cave to find Shan Yu clutching his right arm him in pain. A corridor of darkness closing right next to him.

And just like that, the warm feeling was gone.

Shan Yu glared at him and Mulan.

"More children, tsk. I'm done playing games." He raised his sword and summoned a horde of heartless.

With that Sora, Donald, Goofy and Mulan found themselves trapped in a cave filled with too many heartless to count.

Sora pulled out his keyblade. He couldn't help but to feel doubtful of himself. Sure he had been training non-stop for the past few weeks, but what if it wasn't enough? What if he couldn't protect his friends like he could before? What if he wasn't strong enough?

"Sora..." Mulan put her hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his spiraling thoughts. "You can do it, we're right here behind you." She assured him.

Donald and Goofy gave him nodded in agreement.

'Strength...' Sora always said his friends were his power.

'_Strength...' _He still had Donald and Goofy, they were still by his side. Even after he thought he lost it all.

'_STRENGTH.'_

The word floated around Sora's head until something just clicked. Sora was not weak, not at all...

"GIVE ME STRENGTH!"

He was strong. He was brave

He was Valor.

* * *

A/N: Hey... so it's been a while.

First off I want to say this fic is not discontinued and it _will _continue.

Second, I'd like to thank everyone who as stuck by the story since the unintentional hiatus.

Thirdly, this isn't an academy speech. I'd like to mention, originally I wasn't going to add drive forms. But they're such a staple of KH2 that'd it'd be criminal. I'll try to get the next up soon. Can't promise anything.

Until next time,

~Ink


	11. Blossom in adversity

Roxas crumbled to his knees the moment he stepped outside the corridor of darkness. The weight on his body falling on top of the soft snow.

There was burning sensation that surged throughout his body but he wasn't his pain. On the contrary, he could feel pure raw power flowing through him. It was overwhelming.

'What... what is this feeling?' It reminded him of the incident back the Beast's Castle, but this was slightly different.

"ROXAS"

He could vaguely hear Axel and Xion calling his name, but his thought remained to the cave where Sora was.

'Sora... what did you just do?'

* * *

"Woah."

The last of the heartless was finally defeated as a lone heart floated into the air above them.

Donald, Goofy and Mulan as Sora gently floated back down to the ground after defeating the last heartless.

"Woah." "Sora!" "Your clothes?!"

Sora looked down at his outfit. His usual outfit was now a brilliant red. "Cool."

"Is this part of the three Fairies's magic?" Goofy asked out loud.

Sora twirled Kingdom Key in his hand. "I think so. That was... wow." He glanced at his keyblade then back at where the heartless once stood.

'Did I do _that.' _He was awed. He power he felt was nothing like before. It almost felt like he wasn't fighting alone, Like someone else was fighting with him. As he stared at his hand he could feel that power returning to its rightful owner. His clothes going back to their usual colour.

"Gawk, where's Shen Yu?!"

Sora snapped out of his thoughts and surveyed the cave. Indeed Shen Yu was missing.

Mulan groaned. "He must have escaped during the fight with the heartless."

"Garsh, then that means General Shang could be fighting Shan Yu. He needs us." There was a bit of worry in Goofy's voice.

With that they all rushed out of the cave, hoping they would not be too late to join the fight.

By the time they made it out of the cave it was clear a scuffle had taken place in the ruins of the village. Shang's army was ruff around the edges but still in once piece.

Mulan spotted Shang first, "Captain!" She rushed to his side.

General Lee was barely standing against an ashened wall. He held his side carefully, clearly he took the brunt of Shan Yu's attack. Shang attempted to move towards Ping but fell as soon as he left the wall.

"Don't over-do it, Captain!" Sora cautioned as Ping propped Shang back onto the wall.

"It's just.. a scratch." Shang tried to assure them through pained breaths.

"You rest, just tell us where the enemy is." Ping begged.

Shang took a deep breath and looked at Sora and his friends. "The summit... They went towards the summit. Take the reaming army with you."

Sora gave an affirmative nod. "We'll stop them." He turned towards Donald and Goofy, "Let's go."

Ping gave a small glance at Shang as they departed towards the summit.

The Hun were waiting for them on top of the summit. Mulan could see Shan Yu for the first time. He was tall and imposing, probably twice the size as her. There was shouting behind her.

"Ready the canons!" "Let's go men."

An arrow whizzed close to her. The second she laid eyes on Shan Yu she knew they were in trouble. Shan Yu had the upper hand, the extra man-power, not to mention the power to control the heartless. Mulan's heart sank when Shan Yu summoned a wave of heartless to take the blow of Shang's canons.

"We need to get to the front and take on the heartless!" It was Sora, she was sure of it. Sora was incredibly strong, she knew that but to take on the Huns and the Heartless was crazy. They needed help. Something to give them the edge. She rushed after Sora, her swords slicing threw the Heartless. Not that it helped much, she swatted them they just showed up somewhere else. They needed to get to the source.

They needed to get to Shan Yu. And she knew just how to do it.

She pushed past the rest of the troops and grabbed a canon.

"Ping! Wait" Was that Donald or Goofy? She couldn't tell, she had a mission to do.

She ran and ran until she made it halfway between Shan Yu and Shang. Shen Yu's army getting ever close

"Mulan! What are you doing?! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Mushu shouted in her ear.

"I'm helping Sora! But I need a match!" She searched her pocket for flint and steel but they were empty.

"Muulaaann!" Mushu whined.

Her eyes flickered to the top of the summit. Just behind Shan Yu, on the side of the summit where three cloaked figures. Shan Yu hadn't seen then, nor had anyone else from her army. If she could just get the canon to explode near the fresh snow, then maybe... but would the explosion be big enough? She could only hope they saw her. And figured out what she was planning to do.

"Mushu... I'm sorry."

Mushu barely had time to protest and she yanked on his tail, causing a small burst of fire to shoot out of his mouth; igniting the canon.

"YOU MISSED! THEY WERE THREE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU! HOW COULD YOU MISS!" Mushu shouted as the canon he was in shot off into the air.

Mulan watched as fireball flew from the side of the mountain towards her canon, blowing up the opposing side.

She didn't get to see the explosion however. a sharp pain burst through her side. Heartless began to overwhelm her. She could feel someone try to pick her up but everything was starting to being fuzzy.

"AVALANCHE!" "RUN!"

The ground began to shake underneath her, or maybe it was the lack of air. Either way she felt her legs runs as the snow began to catch up to them.

She tried to run, she tried. But as she soon would find out, it's impossible to out run an avalanche, especially while blacking out.

* * *

"What was she thinking!" Xion cried out after the the snow blanketed the area.

Axel grimaced, he didn't expect the canon to pack as much as punch as it did. Or else he wouldn't have added the extra fire-power. "That's the problem, she was the only one who was thinking. If the rest of them thought like she did then maybe they would have won by now."

Roxas rushed towards the edge of the cliff. He saw Mulan being attacked, he saw Sora rush to help her. He saw as they were buried in the snow. Sora was still alive, he could feel it, but where was he? Most of General Shang's army managed to escape in time, but not Sora.

'Come on Sora, come on. Where are you?' His eyes scanned for anything that might stand out against the glistening snow. He waited and held his breath. Until he spotted black and red emerging from the snow.

"There he is!"

Xion ran to his side. "And Donald and Goofy! They're alright. But oh... Mulan. She's hurt, we have to help her If they treat her, they'll find out she's-"

"No."

Roxas and Xion whipped their heads towards Axel. "No?!"

Axel pointed to where the Huns once stood. A large hawk began to free himself from the snowy prison. "Looks like we missed some."

"But Mulan-"

"Is not our problem. The second the Imperial Army leaves _they _will follow. And I bet I know who they'll go after. The Emperor is more important than Mulan."

The younger Nobodies looked back at the scene unfolding in front of them. Mulan was being taken to the medic, it was only a matter of time before she was discovered.

Axel kicked some snow over the edge of the cliff. "If we leave now we can make it to the city before Shan Yu." With that he opened a portal. Axel made it clear there would be no arguing. They were going to the city.

Turns out making their way to the palace was more difficult than they expected. The Huns had already infiltrated the city, not even the shadows where safe.

"How are we going to make it to the Palace now?" Xion asked out loud.

Roxas looked into the crowd of people celebrating. For him it was easy to tell which were regular civilians and Huns in disuse. But they both had one thing in common. "Axel, how much munny do you have on you?"

Axel raised an eyebrow but handed Roxas a small pouch filled with munny. "What's the plan?"

Roxas looked back into the crowd and pointed to a group of people dressed up in robes and masks. "That"

~.

Sora and Mulan were held on as hard they could to Mulan's horse. They had seen the giant dragon Heartless emerge from the snow and make it's way to the Palace. Now they just hoped to reach the city in time to stop it.

Early they could make out the lights of the lanterns from the mountain, but now they were no were to be found.

The streets of the city were empty and the sound of explosions came from the Palace.

"We have to hurry!" Donald shouted as they passed the Palace gates.

"Shang!" Mulan called out to Shang as he and his men where surrounded by heartless.

Sora turned to his friends and nodded. Within seconds they all jumped off Khan and onto the heartless, giving Shang and his men the moment they needed to break free.

"Mulan? What are you doing here?"

Sora huffed, "You're welcome!"

Both Mulan and Shang rolled their eyes at Sora's comment, but Mulan pressed on. "It's Shan-Yu. He's here! He's the one controlling the heartless."

Shang's eyes narrowed, his head whipped around to look around the plaza. The bridge was clear, the plaza was clear, the front gates, the roof... The roof! A huge shadowy figure crept up from behind of the outer walls of the Imperial Palace. "There!"

Mulan pulled out her sword from it's sheath, "Go protect the Emperor, we'll take care of the heartless here!"

"But-"

"That's an order!" Donald interjected.

Shang hesitated before turning towards his men. "Let's go!"

Shang and his men began to run towards the palace gates. Several heartless began to spring up and chase after them. Sora Mulan Goofy and Donald worked together to swat any heartless that tried to stop them. Shan glanced back up the roof where Shan-Yu was making his way towards the main entrance.

"Hurry men, grab the Emperor and take him inside!" Shang shouted as Shan-Yu jumped down to the ground.

Shang quickly grabbed his sword and blocked off the Hun's attack on the Emperor. Chien-Po and Yao ushered forward while Ling stood between them and Shan-Yu. Shan-Yu grabbed Shang and tossed his aside, the General letting out a small cry as he hit the ground. Ling took a battle stance ready to fight for the Emperor when A small blast knocked Shan-Yu back. Shang taking the opportunity to get back up.

"Get inside. hurry!" Donald called out, the tip of his staff still glowing.

Ling and Shang ran to the front entrance and closed the Palace doors shut.

Shan-Yu slammed his fist on the ground and jerked his gaze onto Sora and his friends who were now standing in front of the gate.

"You're going to pay for that."

Each person readied their weapon. Mulan and her sword, Donald his staff, Goofy raised his shield and Sora placed his hand over his heart. Reaching into pull an unknown power as his clothes began to turn red. They all looked Shan-Yu in his yellow eyes. They refused to back down as he called fourth the power of darkness. None of them hesitated at the battle began.

Several heartless appeared behind Shan-Yu. The heartless sprint from behind him heading towards Donald and Goofy. Donald raised his staff as Goofy charged past him. The two paved a way from Shan-Yu straight to Mulan and Sora. Shan-Yu charged at them with his sword drawn. Mulan barely had time to raise her sword to block before he was on her. Shan-Yu's sword came down on top of Mulan's, pushing her back a few inches.

Mulan pushed her weight down her leg and pushed back against Shan-Yu.

Shan-Yu felt taken back by the small woman's strength. He couldn't help but to stare the woman down. She looked familiar... he hated that. His small moment of hesitation gave Sora enough time to attack.

Sora swung his Kingdom Key with a fierce strength. The medal tip flickered a few sparks of flame as the sword made contact witb Shan-Yu's chest.

The Hun barely moved as he grabbed the blade with his bare hands.

"Pathetic" His voiced was laced with feigned pity. He threw Sora back.

"Sora! We have to fight him together! We can't fight him on our own!" Mulan shouted.

Sora ran to Mulan, the two standing back to back with glare on their face.

Shan-Yu stared at Mulan. Now it made sense.

"The solider of the mountain..." His eyes glowed an eerie golden glow.

He launched himself at the duo...

And they fought back

* * *

Shan-Yu's sword fell to the ground as his body disappeared in the Darkness.

Mulan and Sora panted as the adrenaline began to wear off.

They looked at each other and grinned. Several footsteps grew louder behind them

"You did it!"

"Shan-Yu's defeated!"

"Ping! Ping saved us!"

Cheers and praise came from all directions as the Imperial Army and the civilian emerged from their hiding spots.

Mulan began to feel flustered at all the attention. Mushu cheered near her feet and even Donald and Goofy celebrated their win. Her eyes followed Shang as he made his way towards her. He didn't look mad or disappointed just confused. She didn't have much time to decipher him as the cheering turned into whispers. The crowds parted.

"I've heard a great deal about you Fa Mulan."

Mulan felt a pit of dread. She instantly bowed at the Emperor. "Your majesty." Her eyes stung with tears of shame.

The Emperor's face was impassive.

"You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial solider." His voice kept getting louder and sterner with each passing word, "You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army and dishonored your family name"

Sora wanted nothing more than to put the Emperor in his place, couldn't he see than Mulan just saved his kingdom?!

"You're a young woman and in the end..."

Mulan braced herself for the punishment.

"... you have saved us all."

Mulan was shocked. She looked up to see the Emperor smiling at her tenderly. His face was softer now, it reminded her of her father. And to to it all off he bowed.

The Emperor bowed to _her._

And the rest of China followed.

Hundreds of people bowed to Mulan and her friends. It was breathtaking.

"General Li."

Shang looked flustered but stepped up next the Emperor and handed him Shan-Yu's sword.

"Take this," The Emperor said, "so the world will know what it is you've done for China."

Mulan's eyes began to water. There was such a sense of pride that radiated throughout her body. She couldn't contain her excitement and pulled the Emperor into a hug.

"Thank you."

Donald nudges Goofy and whispers, "Is she allowed to do that?"

Goofy just shrugged. Above him the sky burst with color as fireworks exploded over head.

Sora stared into the sky in awe.

'One day Kairi, Riku. We'll see the sky like this together.'

* * *

"AXEL"

Axel laughed as he lit another firework, watching giddly as it exploded in the distance. The children clealry didn't return his excientment.

"Relax Xion. We warned the Emperor, cleared the heartless in the Palace. Mulan is now a national hero and look! Even the General looks impressed."

Xion bit her lip. Mulan and Shang looked closer now. Sora and the Emperor seemed to laugh at the couples expense. It was a lovely sight. "I guess so."

Roxas leaned over the edge of the tower they were perched in. "I like Mulan. She's strong, and Sora seems to be doing... alright."

Axel gave the boy a strange look, "Alright? What's that suppose to mean?"

Roxas bit his lip. With Sora's transformation something bothered him. What happened in the Beast's castle? "I don't know, I thought I saw something but I don't know."

Xion scooted over closer to Roxas in order, "Saw what?"

"I don't know it was weird, almost like- oh."

Before he can finish his sentence, Oblivion and Oathkeeper appeared in his lap. He looked over to Xion who holding her copy of Kingdom Key. The sky above them changed colour.

Both children looped over the edge of the tower to see Sora pointing at Shan-Yu's sword that was floating in the air.

Completely reactionary, they two opened their keyblade at the sword. A beam of light burst from all four keyblades. There was clicking noise.

The world was open.

And now, it was time to go to the next one.

* * *

A/N: I've decided to something different. Ahem. Nothing too dramatic or spoiler-y but I thinks it's different.

Sora looked down at the page below him. He felt uneasy as he stared at his shadows. Two very different shadows laid before him.

What was happening?

Sneak peek anyone? I think these might help move the plot forward a bit.


	12. Silly Bear

Sora walked the grounds of Radiant Garden? Hollow Bastion? Radiant Hollow? He still hadn't figured out what he wanted to call this world yet.

"Garwsh, I hope everything is alright." Goofy muttered.

Donald shrugged but looked around suspiciously either way. Every since their ship was summoned to Hollow Bastion they have been on high alert. He didn't want to say anything but Donald felt like they were being followed.

Yet he never saw anyone.

Maybe it was just the stress... he missed Daisy.

The trio continues to walk until they close in on Merlin's house. As they walked around the corner they several Heartless coming out the front door before vanishing.

"Uh-oh."

"C'mon!"

They run towords Merlin's house. Bursting through the front door they see Merlin lifting himself off the ground.

"Well, now... took your time, did you?" He asked humorlessly.

"Oh, was it you who summoned us Merlin?" Goofy asked.

Merlin's face soured, "Yes, yes... But it seems I used too much power in doing so, and those infernal Heartless..." His voiced. trailed off. Even Donald could tell Merlin used up too much magic to summon them. However, he shouldn't be that spent if he just summoned them.

"So what's up?" Sora asked.

"Well, I happened to stumble across this in the Zero District."

With that he pulled out a very familiar book out of his sleeve and handed it over to Donald.

Sora's eyes light up. "Pooh's storybook!"

Merlin chuckled, "That's right. I know you're a good friend of Winnie the Pooh, Sora-that's why I summoned you. And when I did, I was attacked by the Heartless. Of course, I fought back with some rather powerful magic, but then I began to fear the book would be damaged, so I… Oh! Now, just a moment. Leon and the others need to hear this too. I-I'd better go find them. Be back in a jiffy."

Merlin disappeared in a puff of smoke. Donald rolled his eyes impatiently, "What a show off." He muttered under his breath.

Sora kept grinning eagerly, "I wonder what Pooh is doing?" His voice was playful, as if it was a suggestion and not a question.

Donald glanced at the book then back at Sora who was giving him big blue puppy eyes. "Wanna find out."

"YEAH!"

Donald backed up and opened the story book. He watched as Sora began to get sucked into the book. His body glowed with a bright light until he was a glowing outline.

Yet it wasn't just _him_. Donald almost dropped just book as he saw 2 additional outlines next to Sora. But before he could mention it. Sora was sucked into the book.

Donald looked into the book in his feathered hands. He glanced over at Goofy.

"What the heck was that?!"

* * *

Sora felt himself slowly float down to the pages below. He let out a slight breath of relief as his feet landed on the pages below.

He took a moment to take in the storybook. Pooh's world was such a special place for Sora. He couldn't wait to see Pooh again.

Making his way from the main map, Sora entered the area which held Pooh's home.

The world came alive around him. A path formed beneath him as the forest came alive. Sora continue down the path until he reached a small clearing with a large tree that had a grown around a cute little house.

His smile widened when he laid eyes on a small yellow bear sitting on a log.

"Hey, Pooh Bear! How you doing? Finding enough honey lately?" He asked eagerly. At the end of the day Sora was still just a child with too much weight on shoulders. And Pooh's world was the perfect place to relax.

Pooh looked at him with an innocent smile, "Oh, yes. In fact, I was just about to do my stoutness exercises. Would you like to join me, Sora and Sora's friends?"

"Friends?"

Pooh jumped off his log. Sora waited for Pooh to touch the ground. But he never did. Instead he floated in suspended animation.

"Pooh Bear?" Sora reached over to touch Pooh and was violently thrown out of the world.

Sora grunted as he landed back in Merlin's house. Donald and Goofy were no where to be found while Pooh's book was perched on a desk.

'What just happened?' There was a small explosion coming from outside.

"Sora! Hurry!"

There was trouble and Sora knew it. He ran outside to find Donald and Goofy mid-battle with the heartless. Goofy glanced at him.

"Did ya bring the book Sora?"

The book? The book! Before Sora could turn back he spotted several Solider Heartless exiting the house with Pooh's book in tow.

"Hey!"/"Give that back!" Sora and Donald shouted.

Sora gritted his teeth, he wasn't going to let the heartless take Pooh. Together the trio readied their weapons and attacked.

-x-

With a final slash of his keyblade Sora destroyed the last heartless. Pooh's story book fell to the ground. Sora carefully picked up the book and inspected it. The book was now tattered and the cover was slashed. He frowned "You think it's okay?"

Goofy scratched his head, "Gawrsh, maybe ya better go back and make sure Pooh's alright."

"But what about Merlin?" Donald protested.

Goofy wanted to say something but the worried look in Sora's eyes stopped him. "Well, I guess we could explain..."

Sora's eyes light up. "Great!" He quickly handed the book to Donald.

Donald opened the book slowly this time. Sora's body glowed, and just like before, there were two other figures next to him before they all disappeared into the book together. Donald turned to Goofy, "Please tell me you saw that."

-x-

Sora felt different when he reentered Pooh's world. It was unsettling.

"Pooh! Pooh Bear! Pooh- oh," Sora found Pooh where he last saw the bear, sitting on the log. Sora let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the bear safe and sound as he ran to the log. "I'm so glad you're okay, Pooh."

Pooh looked up at him, "And I'm glad you came to visit. But you see, I was just about to begin my stoutness exercises. Perhaps we could visit a bit later... Somebodies-I-Don't-Know." The yellow bear hopped off the log and began to stretch.

Sora felt a bit taken back. "Oh, sure... So... how's Piglet these days?"

Pooh gave Sora a strange look. "I don't think I know anyone by that name. But, maybe your friends know." Sora could feel Pooh look past him. "Now where was I? Oh, yes. My stoutness exercises."

"Pooh? Hey! Pooh?!" Sora called out but the bear paid him no mind. "My friends?... Did he mean Donald and Goofy? Or Riku and Kairi?" Feeling dejected Sora's gaze fell to the ground. Sora looked down at the page below him. He felt uneasy as he stared at his shadows. Two very different shadows laid before him.

Two very different shadows than his own. He stumbled backwards. "What the- Something very weird is happening here. Maybe I'd better go back and ask Merlin about this.

* * *

"Something is wrong with Sora, Merlin. I'm telling you." Donald shouted.

Merlin frowned. He didn't expect Sora to display any effects following his awakening. Yen Sid had told him to keep his eyes open, but for what, the wizard didn't say.

"How so, Donald?"

Goofy scratched his head, "Well, Sora's been awful moody even for a teenager. And then he gets weaker and stronger at random times, it's like he lost control of his power."

"Yeah!"

Merlin thought for a moment, his mind flashed back to the boy he housed for a few days, Roxas. Now that he thought of it, they looked very similar. Perhaps Yen Sid knew more than he was letting on.

"Well, now that you mention it boys, there was this strange thing that happened before you woke up and-"

Light emerged from the book, Sora reemerged.

Merlin smiled, "-Couldn't be bothered to wait up for an old wizard, eh?" He teased.

Sora chuckled nervously, "Sorry about that..."

The wizard pointed to the book, "How are things in there?"

Sora's smiled turned into a frown. "Well... Pooh seems to have forgotten all about me. And not just me - all his other friends, too."

Merlin's face fell slightly at the condition of the book, "I was afraid of that... " He took the book to inspect it. "... I suspect it has something to do with those pages the Heartless stole. You'll have to collect the torn pages and repair the book and put things right. This book is one of the world's most cherished elements. I'd been meaning to tell Leon I'd found it, but perhaps we should keep it between us for now."

The Trinity Trio smiled at him, "We will!"

* * *

Axel loomed over the two teenagers as the regained their balance. "What the fuck just happened?"

Roxas shook his head, "Where are we?"

"Back in our hideout back in the Gardens. Seriously what happened, you and Xion just spaced out for a while. It was creepy."

"We saw him, Sora." Xion mumbled.

"What?"

Roxas shifted uncomfortably, "It was weird... like one moment we're with you then everything got... flickery? Next thing I knew we were standing next to Sora in a book."

"But Sora couldn't see us, even though we were right there next to him. And there was this talking bear? He could see us."

Axel gave the two confused looks. "A magic books that turn you two to ghost... Sounds normal enough." He said clearly frustrated. "As if we don't have enough problems. How are you feeling by the way? Ready to finally stay out of the Sora-zone?"

Roxas flexed his wrist as he felt for the keyblade. "Almost, for me at least." Roxas glanced at Xion. "Have you... summoned it yet?"

Xion shook her head."Not on my own, the only time was when Sora unlocked the world..."

Axel sighed, he had a feeling she didn't want to summon her weapon, not that he could blame her. The GPS beeping softly near-by, Sora was on the move again. Axel watched as Xion fiddled with the gadget. "Where's he's heading to now?"

Xion frowned, "The coliseum."

* * *

A/N: What's better than three unfinished fics... that's right another one! However the fourth KH Au won't be posted until the whole thing is finished. That being said, I dont want the sea-salt trio to meet the trinity trio until they visit the worlds the second time around. Although maybe Donald and Goofy will met them before hand. I also want to go back and spell-check the previous chapters. I mean, I could get a beta-reader, but since I don't have a regular upload schedule I don't think that could be fair to the beta-reader.

Next up, Demyx time, more Anti-Sora, and guess who's getting nerfed!


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